Kevin Drake strikes gold in Canada
Shrewsbury’s Kevin Drake has struck gold in the Invictus Games.
Wheelchair tennis ace Drake, who plays regularly at The Shrewsbury Club, teamed up with Alex Krol to claim glory in the doubles event in Toronto.
The pair came out on top of a tense battle for gold against New Zealand’s Glenn Barnes and Aaron Gibbs, 6-4.
Drake was thrilled and relieved after securing victory. He said: “It’s been unbelievable. The kids and my wife are here and my dad and step-mom, and they are loving every moment of it.
“It’s a relief to win. I had a lot of pressure on me because my partner won gold last year.
“It was a great final. We were getting a bit worried at one stage and then we broke their serve and that gave us the advantage.”
Drake and Krol lost just one game on their way to the final. They started their glory bid with a 6-0 win over Hollland’s Jelle van der Steen and Ronald van Dort and a 6-1 triumph over Australian duo Sean Lawler and Stewart Sherman in the group stage.
They then beat fellow Brits Kirk Hughes and Cornelia Oosthuizen 6-0 in the semi-final.
Drake, a sergeant in the army, was in a vehicle which drove over an explosive device in Afghanistan in January 2013 and had his left leg amputated last year.
