Blair honoured

AHorsham wheelchair basketballer and Australian Paralympic athlete has tied for a prestigious basketball award for his 2021 on-court success.

Seasoned Australian Rollers’ player Jannik Blair and team-mate Tom O’neil-thorne won the Sandy Blythe medal, an honour given to an Australian men’s national wheelchair basketball player of the year, as voted by their peers.

The award is named after Australian wheelchair basketballer Robert ‘Sandy’ Blythe, OAM, who played in four Paralympics and captained the gold-medal-winning Australian side at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Australian Rollers, considered a medalchance at Tokyo 2021 Paralympic Games, finished fifth.

Blair said he did not expect to win the award and thought the ‘clear’ winner was his medal-sharing Australian team-mate.

“I thought he had an incredible tournament and took a really big step forward in Tokyo,” he said.

“He is an up-and-comer and has been one of our key payers this year.

“He did have a breakout tournament at the 2018 World Championships, but I thought he was well and truly our best player of 2021.”

Blair said he has a close friendship with O’neil-thorne and to share the award with him was ‘something special’.

Blair and O’neill-thorne were also teammates at Spanish team Bilbao BSR.

“It is always an honour to be recognised by your peers, coaching staff and the entire wheelchair basketball program. But to share it with him was even more special,” Blair said.

“Tom and I are really close on and off the court.

“He is a guy I most enjoyed playing with and one of the guys I most enjoy hanging out with off the court.

“We have had a great history together and I look forward for more to come. To add sharing the highest individual accolade in wheelchair basketball to all that is pretty special.”

Blair lives and plays in Germany for successful German club RSV Lahn-dill.

“I arrived straight after Tokyo. We have won 12 games from 12 so far this season, which is great,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the first few rounds of the Euro Cup were cancelled, so will have to wait a until later in the season to get a look at some of the better non-german clubs out there.”

Blair, 30, said he originally planned to continue competing until the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles, however a successful bid by Brisbane to host the 2032 games had ‘changed things’.

“That really complicated things because it is every athlete’s dream to play in a home Paralympics,” he said.

“To have that opportunity would be incredible. I will be 40 in 2032 and certainly at end of my playing career, if I am still playing by then.

“But if my body can hold on until then – I am still loving and enjoying the sport so I will play if I can.”