Derham heads to Delhi

GLOUCESTER hammer thrower Zoe Derham will be off to New Delhi this Autumn after her selection in the England team for the Commonwealth Games was confirmed.

The British number one, from Quedgeley, will be hoping to claim her first international title.

Consistently the best of British, Derham took gold at the UK Championships in June but the 29-year-old has never transferred that talent into success at major championships.

She finished a disappointing 35th at the Beijing Olympics. Eighth at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester was bettered with fifth-place at Melbourne in 2006.

Derham is consistently hampered by not receiving lottery funding – she could not afford the time off work to compete at this summer’s European Championships in Barcelona.

Despite her difficulties, her coach, former Commonwealth champion Lorraine Shaw - also from Gloucester, has set her the target of reaching the Olympic final when the games come to London in two year’s time.