Niall wants Irish title and revenge at Alpha

That’s because it will be offering him the platform to gain revenge for an all-too-rare defeat to English number one Andrew Martin who got the better over the Poyntzpass 24 year old in their last confrontation in the European Championships in Spain.

It was something of a wake-up call for the popular Niall McVeigh who has championed the cause of para badminton in these islands, totally dominating the short stature 6 class for the past number of years and is ‘over the moon’ at the recent decision which will see para badminton become a Paralympic sport in Tokyo in 2020.

He has always said that his next ambition would be to either compete in Tokyo or play a role as a coach at the Games but such has been his dominance of the sport, and being totally committed to developing the sport in Ireland few would rule out either possibility.

Coming back from that defeat in Spain, Niall could have been distraught but he confirmed that he had “learned a lot from that defeat” and he has certainly pulling out all the stops in the run-up to the Championships in Lisburn according to his coach Andrew Stewart.

“Spain was not all about his singles defeat,” said the coach, “he went on to win gold in the doubles with the Russian player Alexandr Mekhdiev beating top English pair of Coombs and Shephard in a titanic clash 23/21 15/21 21/17.”

McVeigh and Andrew Martin whom he lost to in Spain are old adversaries, but the Irish number one had always reigned supreme, beating Martin back in November 2013 to take the title in Dortmund 21/18, 21/14.

Lisburn Racquets Club is well worth a visit this weekend to see the very best of para badminton in Britain.