THEY have achieved sporting success up to international level, however they perhaps do not get the recognition that many of our sportsmen and athletes take for granted.

However yesterday, the cream of the North-East’s disabled sporting talent basked in the limelight for their successes and achievements.

The Riverside Stadium in Chester-le-Street, home of county cricket champions Durham, was the venue for the seventh npower North- East Disability Sports Awards run by the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) North-East.

Male personality award winner was Stephen Miller, 28, of Cramlington, Northumberland, who achieved silver in the club throw at the Beijing Paralympics last year.

The female award went to 19-year-old Faye Stevenson, from Gateshead, who was the only female member of the England team in the Powerchair Football World Cup, in Japan.

Badminton player William Smith, 18, of Prudhoe, Northumberland, who is studying at Newcastle University, won the young male achiever award for the second time.

The young female achiever was Eleni Papadopoulos, 16, of Gateshead, who has won several medals in major swimming competitions in the past year.

North-East Actionnaires, which provides a range of sports for visually impaired youngsters in Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle, was voted club of the year and the winner of an npower bursary. Gateshead Kestrels and Stockton Sportsability were highly commended.

Durham Cricket Board won the npower Partnership Award for its work with EFDS to provide cricket sessions for disabled youngsters.

Liz Neale, of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, who has been involved in disabled sport for 25 years and founded the Gateshead Kestrels Sports Club in 1992, received the Service to Sport Award, which was presented by the editor of The Northern Echo, Peter Barron.

Swimmer Josef Craig, 12, of Jarrow, and gymnast and athlete Abigail Batey, 15, of Newcastle, both received bursaries.

ITV regional news and sport presenter Ian Payne, who was compere at the ceremony, paid tribute to the athletes.

He said: “The aim of these awards is to celebrate sporting achievements and to encourage the efforts of people to bring sporting opportunities to people of all abilities.”

EFDS regional development manager Patrick Bonner said: “These awards are a fantastic way to celebrate the successes of our disabled sports stars in the North-East.

“The awards are also a great opportunity to acknowledge some of the fantastic work that clubs, organisations and individual volunteers do in the region.

“This is the seventh year npower has sponsored our EFDS sports programme and awards, and we have certainly seen the huge value their contribution has made to disability sport in the North-East.”

Gary Doig, npower’s community investment manager, announced a further £17,000 for the firm’s Active Programme for disabled sportsmen in the North-East, Yorkshire and West Midlands.

Award winners

WILLIAM SMITH, winner of the young male achiever award, was ranked the 13th disabled badminton player in Europe at the end of last year.

The 18-year-old, who is studying at university, won silver medals in the singles and doubles at the Four Nations Disability Tournament, in Scotland, and also in the European Championships, both last year, and the Four Nations Tournament, held in England, in February.

He won gold in the doubles final of the Four Nations Tournament held in Ireland.

JOSEF CRAIG, 12, of Jarrow, received an npower bursary, having won gold medals in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle and three silver medals, for the 50m and 100m backstroke and 100m breaststroke, in the DSE Short Course Swimming Championships.

He swims 2,000 metres a week in five evening and two early morning sessions – increasing to four early workouts during the holidays – and competes in up to 12 galas a year. He is on British Swimming’s World Class Talent Programme.

FAYE STEVENSON, plays powerchair football, boccia and table cricket and is this year’s winner of the female personality award. She is captain of Northern Thunder, based at the Percy Hedley Sports Academy, North Tyneside, and has won the DSE and CP Sport regional boccia competition and was runnerup in the CP finals.

She was a member of a regional tournament-winning table cricket team.

ELENI PAPADOPOULOS, a 16-year-old swimmer from Gateshead, who won the young female achiever award, broke the European record for the 200m butterfly in December, last year. She went on to win four gold and one silver medals in an international coontest in Denmark, where she broke the world record in the 100m butterfly, a style in which she is ranked fifth in the world. She has top ten rankings in the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley.

ABIGAIL BATEY, 15, won an npower bursary.

She won gold medals at the regional championships last year for floor and vault. In athletics, she won gold in the discus at the DSE Junior National Championships, setting a new national record.

She also won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m. She has represented the region in the UK School Games.

NORTH-EAST ACTIONNAIRES, has sports clubs in Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Newcastle, which provide a range of sports for visuallyimpaired youngsters including climbing, new age kurling, urban surfing and skiing, as well as athletics, football, cricket and trampoline. It won the club of the year award and received a bursary.

LIZ NEALE, winner of the service to sport award, has been involved in disability sport for 25 years and is chairwoman of the Gateshead Kestrels Sports Club, which she founded in 1992 and provides a range of activities for more than 80 members.

DURHAM CRICKET BOARD, winner of the partnership award, runs schemes to get disabled people playing various forms of cricket, a drive that it has developed with EFDS. Its community coach, Ron Young, has developed festivals and competitions.

STEPHEN MILLER is the male personality winner, and won silver in the club throw at the Beijing Paralympics, having previously won gold at Atlanta, Sydney and Athens. He was trailing behind the top three and managed to make the throw of a lifetime that helped him into second place.

He also devotes time to support other disabled people and is an inspirational speaker.