At the end of day one of the World Qualification Tournament in Lasko, Slovenia all seven British athletes are still in with a chance of securing qualification for the Paralympic Games.

Billy Shilton (men’s class 8) has secured his place in the knockout stages and Sue Gilroy (women’s class 4), Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6), Ashley Facey Thompson (men’s class 9) and Kim Daybell (men’s class 10) all lead their groups with one match to play today.

This is the first time that a Para table tennis qualification tournament has been held for a Paralympic Games and there is only one prize in each class – the last qualification spot for Tokyo for the winner. This unique challenge is even harder for the 210 athletes from 47 countries as this is the first international tournament since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The competition continues on Friday with the final group matches and the start of the knockout stages, and will conclude on Saturday.