Britain’s visually impaired tennis stars Hayward and Balmforth take home bronze at 2024 IBTA Blind Tennis World Championships

Their success saw Hayward achieve a podium finish on debut, while Balmforth added a third medal to his accolades in international competition.  

The British duo were among seven players selected to contest the World Championships between the 25-29 September following their staggering success at the IBSA World Games last season, alongside Naqi Rizvi (B1), Yvette Priestley (B1), Helen Potter (B3), Neil Balmforth (B3), Andrea Logan (B3), Ewan Hayward (B4), and Rosie Pybus (B4).  

The format of visually impaired (VI) tennis varies based on the set sight categories that the players compete within. Depending on a player’s category they may have up to three bounces of the ball before they return it back to their opponent.

In the B1 category, for those having the greatest degree of sight loss or no sight, three bounces of the ball are allowed, and players typically wear eye masks. B2, B3, B4 and B5 categories are contested by players with different degrees of partial sight, with B2 players allowed three bounces, B3 players allowed two bounces and B4 and B5 players allowed one bounce of the ball.

Balmforth also narrowly missed out on medalling for what would have been a second time at the Worlds after finishing fourth in his singles campaign.

The Briton was pipped to the bronze medal by the third seed Michael Stype of Poland, who entered the 2024 season as the joint B3 men’s world No.2 alongside Balmorth in the official IBTA world rankings.

In the women’s draws, Great Britain’s B3 representative Logan also came in touching distance of a podium finish after reaching the bronze medal match, but Poland’s Aleksandra Karakula caused an upset to beat the B3 women’s world No.3 4-1, 0-4, 10-8.

Elsewhere, fellow B3 women’s star Potter lost to silver medallist Caroline Lane of Australia in the opening round, while the five remaining stars in the British camp made quarter-final exits in their respective singles events, including Rizvi (B1 men), Priestley (B1 women), Hayward (B3 men), and Rosie Pybus (B4 women).           

The B1 men’s world No.1 Rizvi, who earlier this year became European Champion after striking gold at the European Open Championships in Krakow, suffered a straight-sets defeat to eventual runner-up Harufumi Shiozawa.

A closely contested opening set that finished in the favour of the Japanese No.1 left a tall order for Rizvi, who was unable to revive himself as the budding Shiozawa won all four remaining games to earn his place in the semi-finals.