The Princess Royal began a series of engagements in Northern Ireland yesterdat with a visit to the multi-million pound Sports Centre at the University of Ulster at Jordanstown.

The sun shone brightly as the Princess, dressed in a mustard full-length jacket, navy dress and matching navy handbag, arrived at the campus to be greeted by a group of dignitaries including UU Chancellor Professor Richard Barnett.

On a tour of the Department of Sports Development and Services, her Royal Highness met staff and users of the facilities.

She also toured the Physiotherapy Suite and the £20m world-class sports facility that nurtures high performance able-bodied and disabled athletes and coaches through the provision of facilities and expertise.

On the ground floor the Princess Royal was welcomed to the Throws Area by Dame Mary Peters and went on to meet athletes and their coaches engaged in indoor training for shot putt, hammer throwing, pole vaulting and long jump.

She also met medallists and coaches from the 2008 Paralympics, before visiting the 3G Hall to view teams and meet representatives from a number of sports, including basketball, fencing, gaelic games, golf, hockey and volleyball.

Among the sports people who spoke to the Princess Royal were blind waterskier Janet Gray and Paralympics gold medal winner Michael McKillop.

Michael, who is training for the European Championships in Serbia next year, said: “In the months leading up to the Beijing Games I was in the gym here training. This place is a great help to athletes leading up to big events.

“There should be more places like this across Northern Ireland.”

He added: “Princess Anne looked at my medal and said I must be very proud.”

Twenty-one year-old Belfast hammer thrower Chris Summers was asked by the Princess whether the sports facility was good for training.

“I told her that during the winter it beats being outside,” he said.

“She certainly seemed to know quite a bit about the events.”

Shot putt athlete Jeremy Harper, a former University of Ulster student, who is now development officer of Athletic Northern Ireland, got a chance to tell the Royal visitor about a special mark he has left on the sports centre.

He said: “She asked me about my famous hole in the wall that I left — I'm never going to live that down. It was surprising that she actually knew about the sport and definitely knew what she was talking about.”

Brendan McConville, a 30-year-old firefighter from Bangor, uses the centre to train for pole vaulting.

He said Princess Anne was “genuinely interested” in the sport.

“Some people come in and they obviously don't know anything about it, but you could tell from the questions she was asking that she was interested,” he said.