Langford's badminton gold a first for Ireland

RIOBARD LANGFORD won Ireland’s first ever Special Olympic Gold medal for badminton yesterday.

Before a packed arena in Balydoyle the Cork man saw off the challenge of Andorra’s Juan Ribas 15-8, 15-10 after coming through the men’s singles semi-finals on Tuesday.

Riobard, who is from Glasheen, was overwhelmed with his victory: “I am very happy,” he said. “I was not nervous at all and felt all week that I had a great chance to win gold. The crowd were fantastic and really got behind me. It is brilliant meeting all the other contestants this week.”