The GB Para Table Tennis squad has been playing in open events in Slovakia, Rumania and Germany over the past month with very considerable success. 24 medals were won by 13 players in the 3 events with 11 of them won in Germany; 8 were gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze. Indeed all squad players playing international events over the past year have won medals.
Kim Daybell has led the recent gold rush with gold medals in Class 10 standing singles at Slovakia and Germany as well as in the Class 10 team event, gold with Ashley Facey – Thompson in Germany and with a Malaysian in Rumania plus bronze with a Norwegian in Slovakia. A real gold star performance!
Jane Campbell and Sara Head continued their previous medal successes in the Class 3 wheelchair team event with silver in Slovakia and gold in Germany showing great consistency.
Rob Davies in the Class 1 wheelchair event won gold in the team event with a Hungarian in Slovakia and a Frenchman in Germany while in the singles, he won silver in Slovakia and bronze in Germany- he is now a real challenger for medals in every event.
Will Bayley won silver in the Class 7 standing singles at both Slovakia and Germany; he then combined with Paul Karabardak to take gold in the team event in Germany – well done to a really strong pair building on previous medals this year with Will striving to keep in top 4 singles in the world.
Sue Gilroy only played in Slovakia but came away with silver in the Class 4 wheelchair singles and with a Slovakian, also silver in the team event.- up there in top 4 in World.
David Wetherill only played in Germany but won bronze in the Class 6 standing singles and with a Swiss, silver in the team event –real consistency and desire to add to medals previously this year.
Ross Wilson and Aaron Mc Kibbin gained their first medals in Rumania with a bronze in the Class 8 standing team event; Ross went on to take individual silver in Germany- both these youngsters are showing great results with Ross defeating the World number 1.
Joe Stotesbury gained bronze team medals in the Class 7 standing singles in Rumania and Germany with an Israeli and a Chinese respectively to add to his outstanding Slovenian performance; in the latter they lost to Will and Paul in the final so 3 out of 4 finalists were British!
Jack Hunter –Spivey was another who won his first medal with a bronze in the Class 5 wheelchair team event with an American – an effort which was rewarded by a special mention for Jack on the ITTF website.
Scott Robertson just missed out on a medal in the Class 5 wheelchair singles in Slovakia – but remember he won gold in Slovenia in the team event.
These results augur well for the British Open in EIS Sheffield between September 14 and 17. However the entry for this Para TT major is good and strong with about 300 entries from about 40 countries ; a competition on home soil will hopefully inspire the GB team to new heights. Come and see it – its free!
By Mike Smith