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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Aughagower native Vinny Keane
A visually impaired tennis player from Aughagower has been ranked the number one player in both Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Vinny Keane is now an Irish and UK champion after winning the Visually Impaired Tennis National Finals at Nottingham Trent University. Competitors are ranked from B1 to B5, with B1 being the most severe degree of sight loss, with Keane winning the B2 competition.
He won all three of his round-robin ties in the B2 men’s singles category, defeating David Deas, Philip Hancock and Guy Keating, to round off a triumphant maiden appearance at the National Finals.
In doing so, Keane became the first to lift the Currie Cup – an award named in honour of former B2 world champion Jim Currie – after becoming the most successful B2 player at regional level across the season.
Last year, he ranked among the top visually impaired tennis players in the world after he finished fifth at the recent IBSA World Games in Birmingham.
In September, he competed for Ireland at the IBTA World Championships in Italy, where he exited in the first round to eventual B2 runner-up Oliver Fanshawe from Australia.
Speaking to The Mayo News, Keane said his ambition is to move up the world rankings and compete at the next world championships.
“To win it would be a dream,” he said.
“But it’s not going to be easy because they are fantastic players, some of them have way more experience than me as I have been only been playing blind tennis for a few years.
“I know I can beat them. It just depends on the day. They are capable of beating me and I’m capable of beating them. That’s just being realistic and I’ll have to work on a few things in training. Hopefully the skills I learn will be good enough to beat the best players in the world.”
He added: “I would like to thank my wife Lisa for every thing she does for me. My family, friends, coaches and the blind/visually impaired tennis Ireland team for their love and support. Because of everyone’s help, I was able to achieve so much this year.”
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