Last Updated on 17/05/2025 by Crip Life
Paralympic medallists Will Bayley, Rob Davies and rising star Bly Twomey headline a strong British squad heading to Slovenia this May for the ITTF World Para tournaments. The back-to-back events mark the start of a new ITTF competition structure, offering crucial qualification points for future major championships.
See the results of both tournaments below.
British squad set for ITTF World Para tournaments in Slovenia
Paris 2024 medallists Will Bayley and Rob Davies return to international competition next week for the first time since taking Paralympic silver last year in the men’s class 7 and men’s class 1 singles, respectively.
The Rio 2016 Paralympic champions are among a 14-strong British squad for the first Elite tournament under the new ITTF World Para tournament structure, taking place in Slovenia from 12th to 16th May.
It will also include teenager Bly Twomey, who became the youngest Paralympic table tennis medallist when taking bronze in the women’s class 7 singles and class 14 doubles, and fellow Paris medallists Fliss Pickard, Paul Karabardak and Billy Shilton.
The squad will be joined by Ryan Henry and Chris Ryan for the preceding ITTF World Para Challenger Lasko tournament, which began on 6th May at the same venue in Slovenia.
Understanding the new ITTF tournament structure
“The new ITTF competition structure represents a massive change,” said BPTT Performance Director Gorazd Vecko, “and it is taking some time for everyone to understand the new system.
“The biggest change is that it isn’t important who you beat or who you lose to, but how far you progress in a tournament. The Future tournaments are intended only for young athletes and those who need to be classified, but some of the first Future tournaments have included the top five players in the world. This means they don’t really understand the system because winning a Future tournament as a top athlete doesn’t really achieve anything, as they carry the least number of points, and only an athlete’s six best tournaments count towards qualification for major championships.
“With our Performance squad, we are looking to get them qualified for the major events, and the Elite tournaments are the highest-ranked tournaments and carry the most bonus points towards the world rankings.
Gorazd added: “The Challenger tournament in Lasko will be preparation for the best players for the Elite, but around 60% of the best players from other countries are also playing both tournaments, so the Challenger will be more like an Elite tournament, but it is worth only half the number of points. It will be good preparation for the doubles to try out new combinations, but will also give players a chance to play a singles tournament before the Elite.”
Will Bayley aims for fifth straight title and Paris redemption
Slovenia has been a happy hunting ground in the past for Will Bayley, who will be looking to win his fifth consecutive singles gold medal in Lasko, having triumphed in the Slovenia Open in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
“I’ve been training hard and I feel I’m in my best shape, so I’m excited to play my first tournament since Paris,” he said.
“I’m not thinking about Challenger or Elite tournaments, I just want to win every match and take it from there. I’ve never played back-to-back tournaments before, so I guess I’ll have to adapt to how I’m feeling. I’m playing in singles and doubles, so that will be an exciting challenge for me to try and manage my body through hopefully a lot of matches over 10 days.”
Will was denied a second Paralympic title in both Tokyo and Paris by Yan Shuo, but believes that he can beat the Chinese World number two.
“I like to think I’ve learnt a lot from the final in Paris,” he said, “and I actually feel more confident after Paris than I was before because of my performance and the way I played. It is hard to define, but I felt more dominant even in the final against Yan, and I’ve got a lot of confidence from that.
“I feel after Paris that if I play my way, I can win, whereas I felt he outplayed me in Tokyo, so I’ve actually gained confidence from the final even though I didn’t win it.”
ITTF World Para Challenger results
Over two days, six gold medals were the highlight of a 12-medal haul won by the British Para table tennis team in the singles events at the ITTF World Para Challenger Lasko.
Bly Twomey (women’s class 6-7), Jack Hunter-Spivey (men’s class 4-5), Martin Perry (men’s class 6), Will Bayley (men’s class 7), Aaron McKibbin (men’s class 8) and Joshua Stacey (men’s class 9) all won their respective events while Rob Davies (men’s class 1) took silver and Megan Shackleton (women’s class 4-5), Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6-7), Grace Williams (women’s class 8), Chris Ryan (men’s class 2) and Billy Shilton (men’s class 8) all took bronze.
On Friday 9th May, World doubles champion Grace Williams won gold in the women’s class 14-20 doubles with her Danish partner Thea Nielsen. Will Bayley and Theo Bishop took silver in men’s class 14 and there were bronze medals for Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Stacey in men’s class 18 and Megan Shackleton with her Israeli partner Caroline Tabib in women’s class 10.
ITTF World Para Elite results
On Wednesday 14th May, Will Bayley and Aaron McKibbin took gold in the men’s class 7 and men’s class 8 singles respectively at the inaugural ITTF World Para Elite Lasko tournament.
Will Bayley was a 3-0 winner against Christian Scheiber from Austria and then beat Yannick Paredis from Netherlands 3-0. He won his quarterfinal against 18-year-old Krizander Magnussen, the World number 10 from Norway 3-0 and then had to fight back from 1-0, 8-5 down against Michal Deigsler to win his semi-final 3-1, 12-10 in the fourth after the World number seven from Poland had points to level and take the match into a deciding set.
Will started slowly in the final and was 6-2 down in the first set to Katsuyoshi Yagi before coming back to win it 11-8. He took the second 11-7 to lead 2-0 and was 10-5 down in the third before fighting back to take it 14-12 and beat the World number three and Asian Para Games champion from Japan 3-0.
“It’s been a long few days and I am feeling quite tired now,” said Will, “so I’m really proud of myself that I stuck in there and I never gave up. That’s what I do better than anyone else in the world and that’s why I’m still around and still at the top because I don’t give up. A lot of people would have lost that (semi-final) match 3-0 but I came through that and then showed it again in the final. Yagi was playing unbelievably and should have won that third set, but I thought ‘I’ll just do what I do and stick in there and put a bit of pressure on him’. I think I had to win it 3-0 because if he had won that set it would have been difficult so I’m really happy.
“It is hard because people have nothing to lose against me and they just want to beat me – it’s like a free hit for them. I’m really lucky because I naturally just have that motivation to want to win. I’m really motivated and training hard and I still want it just as much as ever and I’ll keep going as long as I can.”
Meanwhile. Aaron McKibbin beat four top-20 players, including World No. 4 Maksym Nikolenko, to reach the final. He won three matches 3-1 and clinched a thrilling 3-2 victory in the final rematch, dominating the fifth set 11-4 after a tense battle, showcasing resilience and world-class performance throughout the tournament.
There were also silver medals for Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6) and Joshua Stacey (men’s class 9) and bronze medals for Rob Davies (men’s class 1), Bly Twomey (women’s class 7) and Grace Williams (women’s class 8).
On Thursday 15th May, Fliss Pickard and 15-year-old Bly Twomey took silver in the women’s class 14 doubles and there were bronze medals for Billy Shilton and Martin Perry (men’s class 14), Joshua Stacey and Aaron McKibbin (men’s class 18), Megan Shackleton with her Israeli partner Caroline Tabib (women’s class 10) and Grace Williams with Lin Tzu Yu from Chinese Taipei (women’s class 20).
Will Bayley and Bly Twomey won their second consecutive gold medal in the class 14 mixed doubles on the final day of the ITTF World Para Elite Lasko tournament in Slovenia.
“It’s a privilege to play with Will and to get two gold medals,” said Bly Twomey, who was beating her idol – three-time Paralympic champion and women’s class 7 World number one Van Zon. “We haven’t played since the Europeans two years ago when we lost to Berthier and Caillaud 3-0, so I think we have improved a lot as a doubles pair and to get two gold medals is such a relief and it’s amazing to see what the future holds for us.
“I think beating Kelly in doubles pushes me a lot as a player to figure out what her weaknesses are and try and play my game and hopefully I can beat her in the future in singles. I’m learning a lot from playing with Will because he has been my inspiration since I started so just having him by my side and being there for me when I need him most, it’s amazing to have him as a partner. Will and I are both determined to win, and both never give up and we always want the best from the match. My mum always says, even to Will, ‘have fun’ and that can be hard because he’s a bit intense and just wants to win but we have fun anyway.”
There were also bronze medals for Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton (mixed class 10) and Martin Perry and Grace Williams (mixed class 14).
You can also catch up on the other news and results from the British Para Table Tennis squad’s latest season of tournaments.
For more information about the British Para table tennis squad, visit the BPTT website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Read: Martin Perry: British Table Tennis Debutant Aims For First Paralympic Medal