COLEFORD carpet fitter Mike Burris (pictured) flew out to South Korea on Tuesday with the Great British deaf squad for the Badminton World Championships.

Mike, 42, will partner world star and leading British player Rajeev Bagga in the doubles.

The championships were originally scheduled for May, but were postponed because of the Japanese tsunami.

Mike said: "I'm really excited and I've been training hard, five nights a week. I'm as fit as I've ever been.

"I'll be up against players half my age but that's not such an issue in the doubles, which is more of a technical sport. We've been told the Russians and the Koreans will take a lot of beating but we'd love to get a medal."

Twenty-one teams will take part in the tournament, which will last for 11 days.

Mike's climb up the badminton world rankings is remarkable.

A few years ago he was playing for fun in the Forest of Dean League, until a match against a county selector led to a county call-up. He was spotted by the coach of the GB deaf team while playing for the county, who noticed he was wearing a hearing aid.

Following trials in Hull, he was picked to go to the sixth Deaf Badminton European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he won a silver medal in the doubles, partnering Yorkshireman Carl Sadler.

Little was expected of them, but they knocked out the top Danish pair to reach the final.

They lost 21-9, 21-17 to Russia in the gold medal decider.

Mike and new partner Rajeev have been seeded four in South Korea.

Mike says he has never considered himself as having a disability, despite being born 75-80 per cent deaf.

He said: "The hearing aids are very good and I also lip read well.

"When we play though, we have to take the hearing aids out."

Mike's number one goal is to make it to the Deaf Olympics in 2013.