Brecon’s Rob Davies is set to make his return to international competition next week, taking part in two key para table tennis tournaments in Slovenia.
The 40-year-old, who won Paralympic silver in Paris 2024 in the men’s class 1 singles, will compete in the ITTF World Para Challenger Lasko from May 6-10, followed by the ITTF World Para Elite Lasko from May 12-16.
Davies, the Rio 2016 Paralympic champion, is among a 14-strong British squad preparing for the new ITTF World Para tournament structure, which has shifted the way athletes earn ranking points.
BPTT Performance Director Gorazd Vecko explained: “The new ITTF competition structure represents a massive change and it is taking some time for everyone to understand the new system.
“The biggest change is that it isn’t important who you beat or who you lose to but how far you progress in a tournament.
“The Future tournaments are intended only for young athletes and those who need to be classified but some of the first Future tournaments have included top five players in the world. This means they don’t really understand the system because winning a Future tournament as a top athlete doesn’t really achieve anything as they carry the least number of points and only an athlete’s six best tournaments count towards qualification for major championships.
“With our Performance squad we are looking to get them qualified for the major events and the Elite tournaments are the highest ranked tournaments and carry the most bonus points towards the world rankings.”
Fellow 2024 Paris medallist Will Bayley is also part of the British team.
Slovenia has been a happy hunting ground in the past for Bayley, who will be looking to win his fifth consecutive singles gold medal in Lasko, having triumphed in the Slovenia Open in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.