Three tournaments in three weeks mark the start of a key period for the British Para Table Tennis Team as the athletes look to secure qualification for the ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships in Thailand in November.
This week’s ITTF World Para Challenger Podgorica in Montenegro (April 29-May 2) precedes back-to-back tournaments in Slovenia – the ITTF World Para Challenger Lasko (May 5-9) and the ITTF World Para Elite Lasko (May 11-15).
“I think the tournaments we’ve had so far in March have been a good benchmark to start the season,” said BPTT Interim Performance Director Shaun Marples, “and there have been some excellent performances like Tom (Matthews) winning in Spain and Billy (Shilton, pictured above) winning in Poland.
“Some players will have left those tournaments on a high and we want to make sure we keep that momentum going into these next tournaments, which will be key in terms of qualification for the World Championships.
“I think it is important for us as a team to make sure we get as many athletes as we can qualified directly to be able to compete in the World Championships. We’ve made a team decision this year to try to go to as many tournaments as possible while looking at the singles and the doubles combinations to make sure we maximise all the direct routes we can for qualification.
“It is great that we have both Rob (Davies) and Bly (Twomey) already qualified as European champions so their programme will be slightly different in terms of building and maintaining their ranking positions as we go into the Worlds, but for the others it’s about increasing their ranking and making sure they get it high enough for a good seeding.
“So there is quite a bit of travel coming up over the next few months and the team and the athletes are prepared to do that – going out of Europe twice before the end of July – and we know it is going to help us in terms of being prepared the best we can for the World Championships in Thailand in November.”
The full British squad for the ITTF World Para Challenger Podgorica (April 29-May 2) is: Theo Bishop (class 7), Nathan Drayner (class 1), Max Flint (class 10), Tom Matthews (class 1), Martin Perry (class 6), Felicity Pickard (class 6), Chris Ryan (class 2), Billy Shilton (class 8)
The full British squad for the ITTF World Para Challenger Lasko (May 5-9) is: Will Bayley (class 7), Theo Bishop (class 7), Rob Davies (class 1), Ryan Henry (class 8), Jack Hunter-Spivey (class 5), Lowri Hurd (class 9), Paul Karabardak (class 6), Tom Matthews (class 1),Aaron McKibbin (class 8), Felicity Pickard (class 6), Neil Robinson (class 3), Chris Ryan (class 2), Megan Shackleton (class 4), Joshua Stacey (class 9), Shae Thakker (class 10), Grace Williams (class 8)
The full British squad for the ITTF World Para Elite Lasko (May 11-15) is: Will Bayley (class 7), Theo Bishop (class 7), Rob Davies (class 1), Ryan Henry (class 8), Jack Hunter-Spivey (class 5), Lowri Hurd (class 9)*, Paul Karabardak (class 6), Tom Matthews (class 1), Aaron McKibbin (class 8), Martin Perry (class 6), Felicity Pickard (class 6), Neil Robinson (class 3), Chris Ryan (class 2), Megan Shackleton (class 4), Billy Shilton (class 8), Joshua Stacey (class 9), Shae Thakker (class 10), Grace Williams (class 8)
* On waiting list
