LOSING in an important badminton match is hard enough without having to stay with the family of your victorious opponent.

That was just what happened to two international players who found themselves stuck in Britain after taking part in the European Badminton Championships in Manchester's MEN Arena.

Pedro Martin, 20, and Thelma Santosa, 24, made it to the quarter final of the competition but lost to Hounslow star Rajiv Ouseph who walked away with a bronze medal.

Rajif, 23, is currently Britain's number 1 player, winning the Senior National Singles three times in a row.

Despite this, father Joe was more than happy to take the Portuguese players and their manager Tom John under his wing when the ash crisis saw them unable to fly home. They ended up staying for a week and got on famously.

The players even used sports facilities in Hounslow to keep up their fitness while they waited for the all clear.

Mr John said: "We were very well looked after, they took us out for meals and it was great. We didn't really want to go. It wasn't awkward at all."

The team finally made their way back home on Wednesday at around midday, having missed an important match in Finland.

Joe said: "They ended up staying for five days, because they are students they said they couldn't afford to stay in a hotel so I said they could stay with me. The next day we heard the news that all the flights were cancelled.

"We have a few bedrooms and my daughters have grown up and moved out so we had spare rooms for them. They were really nice people and they could speak English really well. We tried to entertain them as much as we could."