Former world and Paralympic medallist Tom Matthews fought back from 2-1 down to take gold in the men’s class 1 singles at the ITTF World Para Future Costa Brava in Spain and there were bronze medals for Bailey Page (men’s class 7), Ryan Henry (men’s class 8) and 18-year-old Grantham College student Lowri Hurd (women’s class 9-10) on her international debut.

Men’s class 1

Tom Matthews (pictured above) began with a 3-0 win against GB team-mate Nathan Drayner and went on to secure his place in the semi-finals as group winner with a 3-0 win against last year’s silver medallist Adam Urlauber, the world No 16 from Hungary, and a 3-1 win against Luca Chiarini from Italy.

The Welshman edged a tight third set 12-10 to beat the Asian Para Championships men’s doubles medallist Rakan Abdulrahman Alsalmi from Saudi Arabia 3-0 which took him through to the final against the No 1 seed and world No 7 Dmitrii Lavrov. Matthews took the first set 11-8 and then worked his way back from 7-1 down in the second to lead 9-8 before the 52-year-old Russian, competing as an individual neutral athlete, took the set 11-9 with another well-executed tetraloop – a tactic that he employed to great effect throughout the match.

Lavrov took the third set 11-8 to lead 2-1 but Matthews came back to level and then took control of the deciding set, taking it 11-5 to win the match 3-2 and the gold.

“I feel I’ve played really well,” said Matthews. “It was obviously difficult to play against Nathan in my first match – it’s never nice to have to play a team-mate. It was a difficult match against Lavrov – it’s always a tough match against him. At 2-1 down I changed some tactics and worked with Igor (BPTT coach Igor Zavadysky) in my corner which was amazing so thank you to him.

“I’ve been working a lot on my mentality with Stephen (BPTT coach Stephen Jenkins) back home and I managed to stay calm and composed and with the right shot selection I came away with the gold. It’s nice to be out here with some of the young future athletes for British Para table tennis and the future is looking bright.”

Competing in only his second international tournament, Drayner recorded his first international win against Chiarini, edging a tight fourth set 14-12 to win 3-1 after the Italian had fought back from 2-0 down to take the third set 12-10. The former footballer from Bolsover twice came back to level against Urlauber but did not progress from the group after the experienced Hungarian took the deciding set 11-6 for a 3-2 win.

Men’s class 7

Bailey Page came through his first match against Efrain Ricardo Canizales Alvarez from Venezuela 3-1 and finished top of his group after 3-0 wins against 14-year-old Mihai Voivod from Romania and 15-year-old Cheng Xuanxi from China. The 19-year-old from Plymouth displayed all his fighting qualities in his quarter-final against Filip Prchlik, holding his nerve to take the deciding set 13-11 after the 17-year-old European Paralympic Youth Games bronze medallist from Czechia had twice come back to level.

Bailey led 2-0, 8-3 in his semi-final against Aleksy Kaniuka but after edging a tight third set 13-11 the two-time Para PanAmerican Games medallist from Argentina took the fourth 11-4 and the deciding set 11-6 to win 3-2.

“That’s going to be sore for a while,” said Page. “I was 2-0, 8-3 up but I think I can learn from that. I need to trust my game more and go for the shots I know I can play and not go passive. The positive is it shows the level I can play to be in that position. A bronze medal is good, but I will work hard in the training hall and make sure I play plenty of competitions domestically and internationally to make the next step.”

Men’s class 8

Ryan Henry recovered from dropping the first set to beat 22-year-old Eurico Andre Silva from Portugal 3-1 and then beat Fausto Barrientos, the two-time Youth Para PanAmerican Games medallist from Argentina 3-0. He secured his place in the quarter-finals as group winner with a 3-1 win against the 22-year-old Frenchman Edgar Empis and lost only nine points in beating 16-year-old Tomas Novotny from Czechia 3-0.

Henry started well in his semi-final against Yehonatan Levi taking the first set 11-2 but the 17-year-old world No 17 from Israel took a tight second set 13-11. Henry took the third to lead 2-1 but Levi came back to level again before taking the deciding set 11-6.

“I’ve played well over the last two days,” said Henry. “I’m disappointed to lose out in that semi-final – I had chances and played well at times throughout the game but couldn’t quite get over the line in the end. The second set was important, and I think the game could have gone very differently if I had managed to take it.”

Women’s class 9-10

Lowri Hurd had a tough first match on her international debut but acquitted herself very well despite losing in three close sets to class 9 world No 8 Baby Sahana Ravi, the Asian Youth Para Games champion from India. Hurd progressed to the quarter-finals after a 3-0 win against the European Paralympic Youth Games silver medallist Maria Migueles from Spain and after taking a close first set against Nela Kemlinkova 12-10 she went on to beat the 17-year-old European women’s doubles bronze medallist from Czechia 3-0.

Her reward was a semi-final against the world and European champion Alexa Szvitacs and the class 9 world No 1 and two-time Paralympic medallist from Hungary was understandably too strong in a 3-0 win.

“My first international has been an incredible experience,” said Hurd, “and to win a medal is just amazing. I came into this tournament to get a feel of what Para competition is like and to perform the way I did at my first event and to win a medal is just incredible. I am very proud to have just stuck myself in there and proved to myself that this could be a great journey and hopefully full of success.

Playing the world No 1 was a great experience for me to get a feel of what the top level is like and what to take back to training and improve on to hopefully achieve more medals.”

Men’s class 4-5

On his international debut Thomas Hepburn was beaten 3-0 by Henrik Andersson from Austria and 3-0 by the 21-year-old newcomer from China Peng Zhengyang. The 21-year-old former sailing champion from Weymouth came agonisingly close to winning his final group match, fighting back from 2-1 down to level at 2-2 against Hakon Atli Bjarkason from Iceland but just lost out in the deciding set 13-11.

Men’s class 10

Max Flint lost his first match 3-0 to 18-year-old Marlon Lopez, the European Paralympic Youth Games bronze medallist from Spain and was then beaten 3-1 by the 21-year-old newcomer from China Hu Runtao. Flint did not progress after a 3-0 loss to Mio Wagner, the 18-year-old European Paralympic Youth Games champion from Germany.

The tournament continues with the doubles events on Sunday.