INTERNATIONAL athletes both past and present demonstrated their skills to potential Olympians during three evenings at Redlands Com-munity Sports Hub.
The Wessex Taekwondo Assoc-iation gave an exhibition featuring Dorset starlets Lotte Roberts and Mellisa Lamb, for whom there are high hopes.
Local children from the area already practising the sport pitted their wits against the two girls, who are on target for either the 2012 or 2016 Games.
The following evening it was badminton’s turn with Steve Butler, Tracey Hallam and Helen Troke, all of whom are former England number ones, illustrating their talents.
The trio of champions allowed up-and-coming players from Weymouth Badminton Academy the chance to experience the thrill of tackling such class exponents.
The third night featured table tennis and England number one Andrew Baggaley, who served up a masterclass of how the sport is played at the highest level.
With his coach and brother Stephen, Baggaley wowed young and old members of the audience alike and many accepted the opportunity of challenging him to a match.
Caroline Smith, manager of Redlands Sports Hub, said: “This has been a great few days for Redlands with all the top sports people putting on great exhibitions, which have been fun, entertaining and also given the audience some great tips to improve their skills.
“We will be looking to put another exhibition week on again in 2010 because of the success of this one.”
Local companies ASDA, Battens, Condor Ferries and Stuart Barnes Windows Ltd all sponsored the exhibitions.
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