In-form Ennis presents tough testfor Welsh squad at the Celtic Cup

Jul 31 2007 South Wales Echo

JESSICA Ennis is hoping to continue her fine form in tonight’s Bank of Scotland Celtic Cup.

The 21-year-old heptathlon star – currently ranked third in the world – will fine-tune for next month’s World Championships when she competes over 200m and in the long jump.

Along with other top stars including reigning World Cup 3000m champion Craig Mottram and Olympic 4x100m relay gold-medallist Jason Gardener, Ennis will compete as guests in the Wales v Scotland v Ireland triangular match at Grangemouth.

Ennis added another string to her bow when she won the UK 100m hurdles and world trials titles in Manchester.

After that success ahead of her specialist rivals, she is aiming to produce another top display.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity to pull together another couple of events and get in some practice before the World Championships,” said the reigning European Cup Combined Events gold-medallist.

The Sheffield athlete is hoping to improve on her personal bests of 23.56 secs in the 200m and 6.40m in the long jump.

Wales team: Bradley Williams, Chris Gowell, Jorge Thomas, Darren Lewis, Rhys Williams, Lucy Evans, Chris Gowell, Melanie Stephenson, Non Stanford, Ceri Stokoe, Tom Kivell, Anwen Rees, Andrew Smith.

The match will be broadcast live on Sky Sports (7-9pm).