McVeigh strikes Gold

The England No1 for once got the better of Ireland’s leading player in the Short Stature Class 6 category but the 24 year old is far from disconsolate, picking up Gold and Silver on his travels.

“The competition has been of a very high standard and I wish the singles final had been different but it won’t stop me,” he told the Ulster Star.

“I am a little bit disappointed, but I’ve learned a lot from today’s match and it will make me a better player,” he said.

Everything had been going to play as far as his preparations were concerned and in the preliminary round robin matches Niall was his usual no-nonsense self taking only 23 minutes to end the challenges of Grzegorz Jednaki 21/11 and Isaak Daglish 21/14 21/12 while England’s Jack Shephard fared only a few minutes better on court with McVeigh though his 21/16 21/10 result gave him a place in the semi-finals.

In the semis the Irish champion who was ranked No1 faced an old adversary Krysten Combs (England) in the opening match and Niall took just on the half-hour mark to progress 21/15 21/13 into the final where he was to face the No2 seed Andrew Martin whom he defeated in November 2013 in Dortmund 21/18 21/14 but this time it was Martin who came out on top winning 21/16 21/14.

There was, however, delight for McVeigh as he was to lift gold in the mens doubles.

Partnering Alexandr Mekhdiev (RUS) they secured the title with a narrow defeat of the English pair of Coombs and Shephard 21/23 21/15 17/21.

Meanwhile, Alpha’s Ciaran and Sinead Chambers have been selected to represent Ireland in the upcoming European Mixed Team Championships Qualification event in Dublin from November 7-9 when they will take on Bulgaria, Norway and Slovakia and hopefully qualify for the finals to be held in Begium in February.

Alpha’s Norman Lau finished on the wrong side of a 21/15 21/14 semi-final defeat at the hands of the eventual Mens Singles Champion Nigel Boyne in the Munster Open at the weekend having knocked out Satchal Madden 21/11 21/-9 and Ben Gallagher-Lynch 21/14 21/15.

Lau was also reach the semi-final of the mixed doubles but partnering Moya Ryan they exited to Mark Brady and Crona Rooney 21/14 12/21 21/19 with Brady and Rooney going on to take the title in three sets.