Phillip Cheverall. DA2737P01.SALISBURY swimmer Phillip Cheverall suffered disappointment at the Deaflympic Games in Australia when a bout of food poisoning put paid to his medal hopes, writes Jonathan Reeve.

The 25-year-old from Clarendon, along with Pitton swimmer Harriet Lerwill, was part of the British team that finished tenth overall in the Games, held in Melbourne.

Despite being advised by the team doctor not to swim in some races, Cheverall only narrowly missed out on medals in the 400m medley and 800m freestyle relays, as Britain finishing fourth in both.

Having missed out on the A final of the 100m butterfly by just three hundredths of a second in 1:01.91, the silver medallist at the 2001 Rome Deaflympics also came third in the 50m butterfly B final with a time of 28.15.

This was the first international event in which Cheverall, who also took 400m freestyle bronze at the last European Deaf Championships, had returned home empty-handied.

Meanwhile 20-year-old Lerwill was part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team which broke the British record, posting a time of 4:24.87 on their way to finishing seventh.

The young swimmer, who won an impressive four silver and two bronze medals at the European Championships, had to settle for second place in the 200m freestyle and fifth in the 100m Backstroke B finals.