DORCHESTER badminton star Jon Fox admitted that competing for Great Britain at the World Transplant Games in Malaga is “an added bonus” as he raises awareness of organ donation.

Along with men’s doubles partner Jamie Jessup, Fox won a silver medal in Spain after losing out to Thai pairing Phunnarputt Jittjarukorn and Nopparat Karnkayan 2-1 in sets in the men’s under-30 gold medal match.

Fox, 28, underwent a liver transplant aged eight after being diagnosed with Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, an inherited genetic disease.

Alpha-1 antitrpysin is a protein produced in the liver and is needed by the body to help protect the lungs, with a deficiency leading to lung or liver disease.

And Fox now says his main aim is to show how “amazing” organ donation is.

“Originally my Mum entered me when I was 10 years old, more to meet other people with similar situations.

“The main reason now is just to show how amazing organ donation is. Even if I can get one person to sign up to the register it could save lives. To compete for my country is an added bonus,” he told Echosport.

Commenting on his run to the final, Fox was thrilled to make it through what he considered to be a tricky group, including a 2-1 win over old Iranian rivals Hossein Rezaei Almanghadim and Behrouz Salimi.

He said: “The last time I went to the World Transplant Games was back in 2013 in South Africa and we were beaten by the Iranians in the group stage.

“This time we beat them which was amazing to get through to the gold medal match. Our group probably had most of the strong pairings throughout our age group.

“The Iranian game went down to the third game and we just pinched it. It was nice to beat them in the doubles, they were really tough matches.

“The top pair from each group went through. If we lost a game we would probably have been knocked out so that was added pressure.”

Against the Iranians, Fox and Jessup lost the first set 15-11 but stormed back to win each of the next two 15-6.

The British pair were again one set down against German duo Yorrick Graff and Julian Storch, but fought back once more to win 2-1, before a simple 2-0 victory over compatriots Robert Collins and Alex Gibbs.

But the Thailand double act of Jittjarukorn and Karnkayan emerged victorious in the final, winning 21-17, 12-21, 21-19 in a closely-fought encounter.