2019 UK Para Badminton Championships

Ulster has 5 players competing in the first ever UK Para Badminton Championship in Sheffield on 29th-21st July with Niall McVeigh and Andrew Moorcroft coming home with a Silver medal in the SS6 men’s doubles. 

The Ulster duo of Andrew Moorcroft & Niall McVeigh teamed up for the SS6 Men's Doubles in a round robin event with medal outcomes depending on where you finish in the group. They got off to a tough start in their opening match against the England pair of Krysten Coombs & Issak Dalglish losing out 21-15, 21-10, however the pair bounced back with a great win of the current SS6 Singles World champion Jack Shephard and his partner Issac Maison with a 21-14, 21-10 win. In their final group game they faced Jacob Deedman & Ross Foley from England. The Ulster pair were too strong for the English pair winning 21-19, 21-19 to claim a great silver Medal. Well done!

After progressing to the Semi Finals of the SS6 Men's Singles Niall McVeigh faced England's Krysten Coombs, unfortunately losing out 21-12, 21-19. Following the Olympic Games style for medalling there was Bronze medal playoff match and Niall faced another English player, the up and coming Issak Dalgish. The young English player played to a very high level in his home venue and took the bronze medal with scores of 21-14, 21-12. Andrew Moorcroof won 1 of his group matches but lost out in his remaining 2 matches unfortunately not progressing to the Semi final stages. He did qualify for the 5th/6th position playoff group in which he won both his matches to claim 5th position.

Chris Stewart and Michael Smith we’re competing in the WH1 classification which was also a round robin event with Chris Stewart winning 2 games and losing 2 claiming 3rd spot. Michael won 1 of his matches, losing out in the other 3 games to take 4th position in the group. Michael & Chris teamed up for the combined WH1/WH2 Doubles and were placed in Group B. They progressed to the Semi Finals as runners up of their group. They faced the strong pairing of David Follet & Martin Rooke with the English pair proving too strong for the Ulster players. A good competition to progress to the Semi Final for Michael & Chris.

 Stephen Halpin was competing in the SL4 classifications. The Men's Singles event was a round robin group and after some tight matches, narrowly missed out a medal position.

Well done to Niall and Andrew in their medal and all competitors. A special mention to GB Badminton/Badminton for organising and running the first ever UK Para Championships

For all results click here

 Next up on the Para programme is the World Championships in Switzerland 20-24th August. Keep an eye out on our website & Social media pages for regular updates.