Four-time European champion Rob Davies is hoping to see plenty of Welsh supporters at the ITTF European Para Table Tennis Championships next month.

Davies, from Brecon, leads a strong Welsh contingent in the 18-strong British squad, which includes Commonwealth champion and World medallist Joshua Stacey, Paralympic medallist Tom Matthews, World doubles champion and Paralympic medallist Paul Karabardak and World doubles champion Grace Williams.

The championships are taking place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield from September 4-9, which is only the second time since the London 2012 Paralympic Games that the stars of the British Para Table Tennis Team have had the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd.

The tournament also represents an opportunity for athletes to secure Paralympic qualification with the gold medallist in each singles class earning a ‘golden ticket’ for Paris 2024 and valuable World ranking points available in both singles and doubles events.

Davies will be bidding for his fifth consecutive European title in men’s class 1. The Rio 2016 Paralympic champion was unable to defend his title in Tokyo due to a shoulder injury and will face tough opposition including his teammate and fellow Welshman Tom Matthews, who came out on top in their recent meeting in the final of the Czech Open in June.

“I’m feeling excited for the tournament,” said Davies. “Obviously having it in Sheffield is a great opportunity and hopefully there’ll be plenty of Welsh supporters. We haven’t had a Europeans for four years which has been good for me because I’ve been out injured a lot of the time. I try not to think too much about going for my fifth consecutive title because you can’t think about the outcome, you just have to take it match by match. Every match is difficult so I’m looking forward to the challenge and we’ll see how it goes.

Speaking about a potential match up with Tom Matthews, Davies said: "Tom and I are both competitive guys – he’s a youngster coming through and if he can get to the final it will be brilliant and if we could both get there it would be perfect. We’ll think about that if it happens but at the moment I just want to keep improving. I’ve got a way to go to be at my best but I’m going to keep training hard and think about each match as it comes.”