Bly Twomey
Brighton Bly Twomey
BrightonBiography
Born with cerebral palsy Bly has always been sporty and from the age of seven enjoyed swimming, football, horse riding and tennis. She was also the dodgeball champion at her primary school, but it wasn’t until she attended a multi-sports day for SEND and free school meals children in 2021 that she discovered table tennis.
Her natural talent was spotted immediately by Nick Kreel from Brighton Table Tennis Club and after being invited to attend regularly on Saturdays she immediately fell in love with the club and the sport. Having declined a try-out with GB Para swimming she began to focus on table tennis; within six months she was competing in the National Club League and within a year she had been selected for the BPTT development squad.
She made her international debut in the Costa Brava Spanish Open in March 2023 and two months later won her first international medal when taking bronze in the women’s class 7 singles in the Polish Open. Having been selected for the European Championships in Sheffield she exceeded all expectations by taking bronze in the women’s class 7 singles, beating the Swedish World number six Smilla Sand in her first major championship match, and pushing World champion Kubra Korkut from Turkey all the way despite losing in three close sets.
After taking silver in the Finland Open – losing in five close sets to Smilla Sand in the final – Bly won her first title at the French Open, beating Sand in three sets and then beating the Chinese World number three Wang Rui 3-0 to take the gold.
With two wins against higher-ranked opponents in France Bly moved up to number five in the world rankings and after taking gold in Italy and Poland her qualification for the Paralympic Games in Paris was confirmed in April 2024.
Having taken World number one Kelly Van Zon to five sets in the semi-final of the Para Showcase event at the Singapore Smash Bly beat World number two Kubra Korkut on her way to taking gold in the Slovenia Open in May, coming back from two sets down and saving two match points before clinching the deciding set 14-12 to beat the World and European champion 3-2.
On her Paralympic debut in Paris Bly demonstrated her huge potential by taking bronze in the women’s class 14 doubles with Fliss Pickard and bronze in the women’s class 7 singles, leading Kubra Korkut 2-0 before eventually losing their semi-final 3-2.
Bly, who has an identical twin sister Ellis, attends Cardinal Newman Catholic School who are very supportive of her table tennis career and trains regularly with World champion Will Bayley who is also based at Brighton TTC.
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