Adam Hughes names best player at British Transplant Games

Hughes was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure in April 2013, before a kidney transplant gave him a new lease of life in October 2014.

And the former Carew player and manager was pivotal as Wales made the intensely contested final, where they lost 1-0 to Oxford having beaten London in the semi-final. A combined Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham and Newcastle side won the Bronze.

Hughes was duly chosen as the ‘Player of the Tournament’ and was presented with a medal by the Oxford and GB Football Team Manager Daley Cross.

Next on the agenda for Adam are the World Transplant Games where he has been selected as part of the Great Britain Football Team. The WTG are to be held in Newcastle/Gateshead in August.

Transplant Sport teams are based on hospitals and for the first time this year Wales had a national team taking part in sports such as track and field, swimming, golf, netball, badminton and darts amongst many others. The team included players from Cardiff and Swansea hospitals and other Welsh players such as the football goalkeeper and captain Ywain Shakespeare from the Rhondda, who had a liver transplant at Birmingham. Others came from all over Wales.

The British Transplant Games had over 1,000 competitors of all ages and a moving opening ceremony was held prior to the games at Rodney Parade. All teams from all corners of the UK paraded around the ground to rapturous applause, but the largest cheers were reserved for the ‘Donor Families Association’, without who’s courage in taking the decision to donate the organs of their loved ones, many of the competitors would not have been there.

The Donor Family Association presented a trophy to Transplant Sport of two hands holding a baton to be present at all games and following a hugely successful event at Newport, this was handed over to the organising team at Coventry where the 2020 British Transplant Games are to be held.