British para-table tennis stars kick off their campaign to qualify for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games

Reigning world champion Will Bayley will start the season at the National Championships in Bristol before heading to Italy for the Lignano Master Open. 06 Mar 2015
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Will Bayley

Will Bayley returns the ball during his table tennis match with Brazil's Paul Salmin during Great Britain's National Paralympic Day at London's Olympic Park on 7 September 2013. More than 5,000 spectators were there to cheer Bayley on at the match.

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By GB Para-table tennis

"It’s a new season and everyone wants to beat each other. I don’t want to think about the past - although it is nice to say I’m world champion it is on to the next major championship which is the Europeans at the end of this season. That’s my next big target now.”

The Great Britain para table tennis team begins the vital qualification season for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games next week with seven players competing in the Hungarian Open (March 13-15).

Meanwhile, world champion Will Bayley will be among six elite British players competing in the Butterfly Michael Hawkesworth Championships (BTTAD National Championships) in Bristol (March 14-15) before heading out to Italy for the first factor 40 tournament of the season, the Lignano Master Open (March 19-21).

Bayley (class 7) will be joined in Bristol by women’s class 4 world silver medallist Sue Gilroy, defending National Open champion Kim Daybell (class 10), Paralympic bronze medallists Jane Campbell and Sara Head (class 3) and Liverpool teenager Jack Hunter-Spivey (class 5), while the team for Hungary includes Paralympic medallists Ross Wilson and Aaron McKibbin (class 8), fellow Paralympian Paul Karabardak (class 7), Ashley Facey Thompson (class 9), Megan Shackleton (class 4) and Pathway Squad members, Billy Shilton (class 7) and Tom Matthews (class 1).

Sheffield based Bayley, from Tunbridge Wells, won the men’s class 7 world title in China last September but has certainly not been resting on his laurels.

“We’ve had a great few months training, including a week in Slovakia training against their top Olympic players which was amazing,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot on my fitness and speed around the table and trying to get a bit more power into my backhand and I hope that will show this year. I don’t think I feel any different going into this season as world champion - it’s a new season and everyone wants to beat each other. I don’t want to think about the past - although it is nice to say I’m world champion it is on to the next major championship which is the Europeans at the end of this season. That’s my next big target now.”

Wilson, from Minster in Kent, won a team bronze at London 2012 and returned last October from a two year absence due to injury to win gold in the men’s class 8 singles in France. Hungary will be the next step for the Sheffield based athlete on the road to Rio and the 19-year-old, who was world ranked number two at the end of 2012, is looking forward to the challenge.

“Winning in France was definitely a boost,” Wilson admitted, “but I think more than anything it has motivated me even more to win tournaments. I’m excited and ready to be part of the team again because I have missed that. It’s been a while since I was part of a full strength GB squad at a competition so I’m looking forward to that. Before London I was a bit nervous about trying to qualify and it was always on my mind that I wasn’t going to get there but this time around I want to win more tournaments and get my spot back at the top of the world rankings rather than just aiming to qualify for Rio.”

Great Britain Performance Director Gorazd Vecko said: “It is important for the GB players to compete at the National Championships but the players we are taking to Hungary need to play in as many international tournaments as possible to give them the best chance of qualifying for the Paralympic Games in 2016. Our athletes need to qualify by the end of this year so it is a massively important season and we also have the European Championships in Denmark in October, which will be the last major event for the team before Rio.”