Goalball player and Newnham PhD student Sarah Leiter will compete on BBC quiz show Eggheads tonight (May 8).
In November 2014, the Great Britain Women’s Goalball team was invited to attend the Paralympic Qualification tournament in Seoul.
The competition in Asia is the team’s last chance to qualify for the Rio Paralympics 2016 and it gives them the chance to test their skills against the highly-ranked sides from China, Japan, Canada, Finland and Israel.
But the squad had one major hurdle – funding.
Sarah, a third year PhD Clinical Biochemistry student who was born with a visual impairment, explained: “We were super excited to be given the opportunity to try and gain qualification for Rio. However, without any major funding we realised that we would need to raise around £20k to be able to go.
“All the team members quite enjoy quizzing and I often get told that I’m the “team egghead”. My team mate Georgie Bullen then decided to apply for Eggheads and we got a place for our team.”
The quiz show pits a team of five “Eggheads” – made up from eight highly regarded quiz and game show champions – against a series of teams of five “challengers” who in each episode attempt to beat the Eggheads through a series of rounds.
Sarah added: “It was a really fun day in December when we all flew up to Glasgow for the filming.
“We were treated so well and made to feel really welcome. The Eggheads were amazed to hear our story about why we had entered and wanted to raise money.
“It was exciting to see how a show is being filmed and I am interested to see the cut version as we did about 2.5 hours of filming for a 30min episode.”
Goalball is currently the only Paralympic team sport for women. It is played with raised markings on the floor and the object of the game, played by two teams of three blindfolded players, is to score a goal by bowling the ball, with bells inside, along the floor to cross a line.
The sport was originally developed to help with the rehabilitation of soldiers after the Second World War. Its popularity was bolstered by Team GB’s performance at the London 2012 games and in the past two years the number of active clubs has soared from 18 to 30 across the country.
Sarah added: “When I am not working in the lab I can usually be found in the gym or travelling to train/compete at goalball. I was born with a visual impairment and goalball has not only given me the chance to play a sport on a level playing field but has provided me with the huge opportunity and responsibility of representing Great Britain internationally.”
The team is now in Seoul but they are still fundraising to help finance their dream of competing in Rio if their bid for qualification is successful.
To find out more about the sport visit www.goalballuk.com
Follow the team’s progress in Seoul on Twitter by following @goalballchamps or @goalballUK
To sponsor the Great Britain Women’s Goalball team visit https://www.justgiving.com/GBRWomensGoalball
Eggheads, featuring Newnham’s Sarah Leiter, will be broadcast on BBC Two at 18.00 tonight.