BRECON Paralympic champion Rob Davies is to head a 16-strong British squad that will compete in the European Para Table Tennis Championships in Lasko, Slovenia from September 28-October 4.

Rob Davies is bidding for his third consecutive European singles title and with fellow Welshmen Paul Davies, the London 2012 bronze medallist, and Tom Matthews will also defend the men’s class 1 team title won in 2013 and 2015. The 33 year old lost the World number one ranking after a below-par performance in the German Open in June but came back to win gold in the Czech Open earlier this month.

“You can’t be 100% on top of your game constantly,” said Davies, “and I wanted to concentrate on other things in my life after Rio, including getting married in July. It is nice to be World number one – I think I was on honeymoon when I heard that I had gone down the rankings - but to be honest it is not as important for me as winning the major titles. Nobody remembers who was World number one – it is titles that really matter so I’m looking forward to going to the Europeans and hopefully playing my best table tennis.

“The European Championships will be our first major competition since Rio,” said Gorazd Vecko, British Table Tennis Team Performance Director.