Paralympic champion Rob Davies heads a star-studded entry for the Michael Hawkesworth British Para Table Tennis National Championships taking place this weekend (April 6-7).
The Brecon-based star is joined by fellow Rio 2016 champion Will Bayley and World and Commonwealth champion Ross Wilson at the championships at at Grantham Meres Leisure Centre in Lincolnshire.
Davies (men’s class 1) and Bayley (men’s class 7) made a positive start to the international season, both winning gold in their respective events at the Lignano Master Open in Italy earlier this month. Wilson retained the National Open Standing title last year one week after becoming Commonwealth champion in Australia and will be hoping to have recovered from the hamstring injury that ruled him out in Italy.
In addition to Bayley, among Wilson’s strongest challenge for the Open Standing title is likely to come from Commonwealth medallists Kim Daybell and Josh Stacey, English National champion Ashley Facey Thompson, London and Rio bronze medallist Aaron McKibbin, former European bronze medallist Billy Shilton and Grantham College student Jack Stockdale, who took bronze in the men’s class 10 singles at the Costa Brava Open last week and won the Open Standing doubles title with Stacey and the men’s class 10 singles at last year’s National Championships.
The Open Wheelchair event has been dominated in recent years by Jack Hunter-Spivey who will be bidding for this sixth National Open title and his seventh men’s class 5 title. The 23 year old from Liverpool returned from Italy with men’s class 5 singles bronze and team gold but will face tough competition from World team medallist Megan Shackleton, as well as improving young players Dan Bullen and recently crowned Welsh champion Cellan Hall.
Rio gold medallist Davies will be strongly challenged in the men’s class 1-2 event by fellow Welshman Tom Matthews, who took men’s class 1 bronze in the World Championships last October, while women’s class 6 World bronze medallist Fliss Pickard will be bidding to retain her Women’s Open Standing title and Harry Fairchild will bid be hoping to repeat his win in last year’s Down’s Syndrome final.