A BADMINTON player from South East Cornwall is celebrating after scooping three gold medals at a local competition.

Nikki Welch, 31, from Pensilva, near Liskeard, has shown her skills after securing three gold medals at The Mayflower Games in Plymouth.

Organised by the Plymouth Mayflower Specials charity, the annual event was held at the Plymouth Life Centre on June 28 and 29.

Nikki has been playing badminton events with the Special Olympics for 14 years and, in that time, has won 60 gold medals, plus six silver and one bronze.

Her success came in the same week that Nikki was awarded training sponsorship from the GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) – giving her free access to GLL’s 254 leisure centres nationwide.

More than 140 Cornwall-based athletes, representing 23 sports, have received GSF support worth £92,150 in 2025. Over 70% (72) of them get no other central funding, more than half are under the age of 21, 27% are under 16 and 8% of them live with disabilities.

When she’s not competing, Nikki is playing for fun whilst also honing her badminton skills at Liskeard Inclusive Badminton Club, hosted in the town’s GLL leisure centre.

“She has progressed with the help of GLL to become number one in the South West,” said Nikki’s father, Roger Welch. “She has also won gold medals in Cardiff, Swansea, Dublin and Scotland and her ambition is to play international competitions.”

Operating under the Better brand, GLL is the staff-owned charitable social enterprise that runs nine leisure centres in Cornwall on behalf of the council.

GLL’s community sport manager in Cornwall, Karen Edmond, praised Nikki’s ‘amazing achievement’.

She said: “It’s wonderful to see Nikki’s continued badminton success and winning three golds at one event is an amazing achievement.”