Statue of Ade Adepitan revealed at University of East London
TV presenter and Paralympian Ade Adepitan met his match at the University of East London last week.
A life-size statue of the wheelchair basketball player was unveiled at the institution’s SportDock arena.
As well as shooting some hoops, Ade made his appearance to help launch Newham’s first ever wheelchair basketball team.
Players will be based at the SportsDock and the team will be open to people of all ages.
Ade said: “I’m really honoured to be involved in this new scheme with the UEL and Newham All Star Sports Academy.
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“When I first started playing wheelchair basketball, my initial thoughts were that anyone can play this. I then realised these guys are real athletes.
“I want to share the dream of the Olympics with people who have disabilities.”
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The statue was sculpted by Christine Charlesworth, one of the ‘BT Art of Sport’ group of 10 international artists allowed to produce limited-edition Olympic action figures.
David Cosford, the UEL’s director of sport, said: “We’re really happy to have Ade on board with this scheme.
“This is the start of something very special here at UEL, and will help us in our aim to become the number one university for sport in London by 2015.
“It’s a great coming together of people interested in wheelchair basketball, and creating a team at UEL we can be proud of.”
The university will give out joining details during the summer.
