Paralympic hero Will Bayley returns to the Mark Bates Ltd Senior National Championships in Nottingham at the weekend.

The 2016 Paralympic champion, who also has three silver medals, including from the 2024 Paris Games, is the top seed in the Class 6-10 competition.

He is seeded to meet Billy Shilton, himself a double Paralympic bronze medallist and doubles world champion from 2022, in the final on Sunday.

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Take your seat in the crowd at the Nationals to enjoy three thrilling doubles competitions, alongside singles and para singles.

Don’t forget, all those attending the Nationals have the chance to enter an exclusive raffle to win a money-can’t-buy World Championships experience – and to see the London 2026 England squads announced on court on Finals Day – click here to read more about this.

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The group stages on Saturday will see Bayley up against Max Flint and Dan Thomson, two young players who already have international experience behind them.

Shilton, who won the title at last year’s Nationals, also has two rising young players in his group – Shae Thakker has more experience than Bailey Page, but both were on the podium at the ITTF World Para Challenger Astana tournament in Kazakhstan last year.

Flint, Page and Thomson all took bronze in their respective singles at the European Para Youth Games in Istanbul last summer – and Page & Thomson added doubles bronze.

In the Class 2-5 competition, there is a fresh look to the field. This category has been dominated by Jack Hunter-Spivey in recent years, with Megan Shackleton and Simon Heaps also prominent and Chris Ryan coming to the fore too.

However, none of those will be present this year as British Para Table Tennis looks to use the development opportunity for a cohort of less established talent. Thomas Hepburn, who has competed here before, is the top seed and has Jack Sibleston and Lauren Jones in his group.

The other group features Andrew Green – another who has competed at this event – along with Bethany Kelf and Nathan Drayner.

The group stages for the para competitions both get under way at 9am on Saturday.