Plymouth divers and swimmers are on their way to Azerbaijan

Team GB will compete in 13 sports and 19 disciplines in Baku, where 50 European nations will come together for the continent’s first major multi-sport event from June 12 to 28.

The European Games are the continent’s equivalent of the Asian Games and the Pan-Am Games. The capital of Azerbaijan won the right to host the event in December, 2012, with the European Games set to take place every four years from 2015 onwards.

With performances in some sports counting towards qualification for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Baku 2015 is big business for Team GB and the rest of the continent – and Westcountry athletes will be playing their part in the event.

Plymouth Diving will be represented by Matthew Dixon, who was on duty for England at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at the age of 14, and Shanice Lobb.

The Plymouth Leander swimmers who will be on their way to Azerbaijan are Joe Hulme, Laura Stephens and Tom Fannon – a 16-year-old from Torquay who won a silver medal behind his Leander club-mate Ben Proud in the 50 metres freestyle at this month’s British Swimming Championships in London.

Beth Ward, from Devonport Royal Swimming Association, is part of the Team GB water polo squad, while Plymouth’s epée fencer Corinna Lawrence is going to Baku along with Truro’s sabre fencer James Honeybone. They both fenced for Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

From Somerset, Bridgwater’s Laura Gallagher will be in action on the trampoline as part of the Team GB gymnastics squad, while two-times Olympian trap shooter Ed Ling from Wellington is also Baku-bound.