THE ban on Russian athletes competing at next month’s Paralympics has handed a visually-impaired Newport cyclist the opportunity of a lifetime.

Ponthir’s James Ball and his pilot Craig Maclean will be on the plane to Rio on Tuesday after being added to the Great Britain cycling team at the last minute.

The Russian ban means that competition places originally allocated to Russian athletes have been reallocated to other nations.

It will be a first Paralympic Games for Ball who thought his chances of competing on the biggest stage had been scuppered for a second time until he received a call out of the blue last week.

The 25-year-old was on course to compete at London 2012 as a sprinter on the athletics track but missed out after tearing his hamstring.

Further injuries led him to quit athletics and he thought his Paralympic dream was over.

But Ball was talent-spotted by British Cycling and has quickly earned a place on their World Class Performance Programme squad based in Manchester.

He and Maclean competed together for the first time at the Manchester Para-cycling International in November 2015.

And they then won a bronze medal together at the 2016 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships in Italy.

But it looked like Rio would come too soon before opportunity knocked last week.

“I’m really happy,” said Ball, who will compete in the tandem time trial on September 11.

“It all feels a bit surreal at the moment because I’ve had nine or 10 weeks to get used to the feeling that I’m not going to Rio.

“Then I got the call last Tuesday to say I was and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

“It will probably only feel real when I get on the plane.”

Ball and Maclean have been getting in some last-minute training at the Newport International Velodrome over the weekend.

“We’ve been apart for four weeks and we’ve only had three sessions together,” he said.

“That means we probably won’t be as good as we can be but I’m pretty confident we can put in a decent performance and hopefully bring a medal back with us.”

Maclean competed at London 2012 alongside Anthony Kappes, winning gold in the tandem B sprint event, and has also won multiple medals at world championships and the Commonwealth Games.

He also won an Olympic silver medal alongside Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Queally at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

“Craig is really experienced and he’s cool as a cucumber,” added Ball.

“I’m told there’s no pressure on me but we want to do as well as we can.”

Ball will be joined by his mum and dad Sarah and John and girlfriend Lauren in Brazil.

“They’ve been rushing round trying to book time off and get flights sorted and they will be flying out as well,” he said.

“They are really proud and excited for me – the support I’ve had is incredible.”