1:53pm Friday 5th June 2009
TWO young acrobats have been flying the flag for the region by striking gold three times in an acrobatics championships in Bulgaria.
Chelsea Fisher and Jasmine Danby travelled to Bulgaria fresh from winning the gold medal at the Sports Acrobatics British Championship, held in Stoke, earlier this year.
Chelsea, 12, of Darlington, and Jasmine, 17, of Brandon, County Durham, were part of the British team taking part in the third ACRO International Tournament for Clubs in Samokov.
The pair, who train at Deerness Valley Gymnastic Club, in Ushaw Moor, Durham, won gold in the balance, tempo and combined sections.
Organised by the Bulgarian Federation of Sports Acrobatics, the tournament featured more than 200 competitors from 23 clubs from Belgium, France, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands and Bulgaria.
Chelsea, a student at Darlington’s Eastbourne Church of England Academy, said: “We had not really seen the other teams compete before, so we were delighted to be successful.”
Chelsea’s father, Stephen, said: “The girls did fantastically well at their first international competition as a women’s pair. Jasmine had competed internationally before, but this was Chelsea’s first time.
“They were absolutely fantastic.
They competed in three sections, they won all three and brought home three gold medals for Great Britain.”
The girls’ achievement is all the more remarkable given that they only started working together last October.
Jasmine, who attends Durham Johnston School, and Chelsea are now preparing for two trials in July as they bid to win a place to represent Great Britain in the forthcoming European Championships in Portugal, to be staged in October
Deerness Valley 