Irish blind tennis team prepares for World Games

The Irish blind tennis team is preparing to take part in the Blind Sports World Games later this week.

The games are organised by the International Blind Sports Federation and will be held in Birmingham in the UK.

The Irish team ranges in levels of vision, from partially sighted to totally blind, meaning that the players have to keep a keen ear on the ball.

The game differs from sighted tennis in a number of ways. The ball is made of a foam-like substance and contains a small rattle-sounding bell so players can locate it.

Players are categorised depending on their level of vision, from B4 which is limited vision, to B1 which is no vision.

The number of bounces allowed on each side of the net depends on the severity of their visual impairment.

Ria Devereaux, one of the younger players making up the Irish team, said that the rule is one of the major differences between sighted and blind tennis.

She says: "I think the biggest difference between blind sports and sighted sports is who you're playing against.

"I'm a B4 player, so in competitions, I'll only ever really play against B4 players. So you're only ever playing against someone with relatively the same amount of sight that you have, which makes life much easier."

Ms Devereaux said that another factor which separates blind tennis from sighted tennis is the support not only amongst players on the same team but the opposition too.

She says: "When you win a point or you do something well, the people around you are smiling and clapping and happy that you're doing well.

"You hit a good shot and your opponent is smiling and clapping for you, I've never experienced that before, but it's something I've really seen in visually impaired tennis."

"It's a really good opportunity to discuss