THE new year started on a high for Paralympic table tennis ace Rob Davies with a number one ranking and an engagement.

Rob started the Paralympic year ranked number one in the world and the European table tennis champion and to top things off he also got engaged to partner of four years, Megan Rees.

The couple, who live together in Brecon, met in January 2012 when Meg, who is originally from Bristol was studying in Aberystwyth University.

With the Paralympics being held in Rio in September, table tennis star Rob has a busy year ahead.

"This year is obviously a busy one with the Paralympics," said Rob, "so we are looking at 2017 to get married and we’ve already started looking at wedding venues in the local area.

"The wedding will be planned so that I still have plenty of time to prepare for the major competition, the European Championships, in 2017. I’ll be away a lot at training camps in the UK and abroad a lot this year as it’s important to get good training variety and get the tactics right so wedding planning will fit around those."

Despite Rob being ranked number one in the world, he is not guaranteed automatic selection for team GB to travel to Rio in September. Rob explained: "The team isn’t selected until March and you have to qualify first, which I have done, but you still have to be selected. In some circumstances you can qualify but not get picked. There’s many reasons for this, Team GB might not thing the athlete had the ability to medal or there may only be a limited amount of athletes permitted per Country to compete in a class. I am hopeful that I will get the chance to go though."

If Rob is selected, Meg, a support worker, is not sure if she will accompany him to Rio: "I’m not sure yet whether I’ll go yet. I’ve got work commitments and we’ve got a lot planned with the wedding so I’ll have to see. My new hobby is wedding planning so I’m very busy."

Rob, who first had a taste of Paralympic stardom in London 2012 added: "It will be fantastic if I’m selected for Rio. London was obviously my first Paralympics and was a great learning experience and really inspired me to up my level. Rio will be totally different, there’s more expectation this time, but anything can happen in sport and the level is so high now. Anyone can beat anyone so I’ll have to be on my game every game or I’ll be going home."