AFTER a tough start to the year at the Spanish International Para-badminton Competition where he did not progress out of the group stage in the men’s singles, Wellington’s Andrew Martin started to turn his fortunes around at the Irish International in Dublin in June.

Being drawn in a group that included the seeded home favourite and players from USA and Peru, Martin progressed through to the quarter finals where his men’s singles competition was ended by a player from Hong Kong. 

Andrew opened up his singles competition with a straight forward win against a young player from USA but that was just the warm up he needed for his second group game against the seeded Irish home favourite. Martin was on a good run against this opponent as he had beaten him in the most recent of matches in the Spanish International in March.

Fortune favoured Martin as he beat the home favourite in three close sets and silenced the home fans in the process. He won his final group match against an opponent from Peru which meant he qualified for the last 16 by winning his group undefeated.

Next up was an opponent from Scotland who he had never lost to. After a shaky first set which he faced four game points, Martin claimed victory in two sets and progressed to the quarter finals where he would face the world number 3 from Hong Kong.. 

He put up a splendid fight but came up short as he was outclassed and out played -  beaten in straight sets. 

Happy with his performance and the progress he had made since the start of the year, he returned to Wellington and came up with a plan for his training schedule for the summer.  He used his training to focus on his fitness and spar against county players and an England senior international player so he was ready for a big finish to his 2018 season with the Danish International and European Championships in France.

These two competitions are vitally important for Martin as good results will help him gain important world ranking points to put him in a good position for when Paralympic qualification starts in early 2019.

Martin has also competed in the Somerset County Restricted Competition where he was up against players from all over the county, winning 2two and losing one group match. 

The local player is still having to fund all training and competition costs himself and is still looking for help from local companies and anyone who would like to donate to his Go Fund Me page https://www.gofundme.com/Andrew-Martin