Krysten Coombs survived a tough test today in the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, as he drew Niall McVeigh, the former world champion, in the group stage.

The two men are great friends off court and have been great rivals on court for many years now. 

McVeigh, the Irishman won the SS6 men’s singles World Championships title in 2013 after beating Coombs in the semifinals. Over the years these two have met many times and have been involved in some really tight matches.

Today it was England's Krysten Coombs who beat McVeigh to top the group, with a straight games, 21-13, 21-10, win. The victory means second-seed Coombs will avoid other seeds in the early knockout stage and gives him best chance of getting to the final.

Read: Blichfeldt beats Nehwal: I am shaking

“I had a great preparation for the World Championships”

BWF caught up with Coombs in the mixed zone after his match:

- Niall and I have played many times before and had some real battles over the years. Many have been close. I struggled to get into the match at the beginning but regrouped and the second game was much better, Coombs shared with us.

- I had a great preparation for the World Championships, to win the tournament on the build-up to it was awesome. It was actually great to have a tougher group game to get me going this week before the knock out stage. I’ve topped my group now which is important, he added.

On his view of the other top SS6-players:

- My game style with Krishna is very similar. Our play is very much about speed and power, so it’s an even battle when we face each other. I find it hard against players with more skills, who can slow the game down. That makes it tougher for me. So I’ve respect for Jack (Shephard), Tony (Chu Man Kai) and Tim (Wong Chun Yim) as well as Nagar (Krishna), he mentioned.

The day three Para-Badminton World Championships 2019 results can be found on tournament software here. Look out for live stream matches, live commentary and highlights each day on BadmintonWorld.tv