French Open marks start of next Paralympic cycle for British team
With Paris 2024 now consigned to the history books the next Paralympic cycle is already underway and a squad of nine athletes from the British Para Table Tennis Team is heading back to France for the 2024 SQY French Para Open taking place in Voisins les Bretonneux in the south-western suburbs of Paris from October 28-30.
Confirmation athletes Chris Ryan (men’s class 2) and Theo Bishop (men’s class 7) are joined by Pathway athletes Max Flint (men’s class 10), Ryan Henry (men’s class 8), Shae Thakker (men’s class 10), Dan Thomson (men’s class 7) and Jacob Wicks (men’s class 6). Also included in the squad are 20-year-old Jaiden Caldeira and 18-year-old Joseph Fortnum Adams who will be making their international debuts.
“We’re really looking forward to the French Para Open,” said BPTT Programme Manager Shaun Marples. “It’s great to see the work that Matjaz (BPTT Pathway coach Matjaz Sercer) has done with the athletes that didn’t have the chance to compete in Paris 2024 and it’s great to be going back to Paris so soon after the Paralympic Games with athletes like Chris and Theo and the other Pathway players. Matjaz has been working extremely hard with them while the Performance team was at the Paralympics and it’s great for these up-and-coming athletes to get an opportunity to play on the international stage again. They’ve not had a tournament for a while so they’re keen and excited to get back out there. They’ve been putting in the hard work in the training hall and hopefully they’ll get some valuable match play experience in France.
“We’ve also got a couple of new players coming for classification which we hope will be a positive experience for those guys so we’re really looking forward to the challenge.”
The full British squad for the SQY French Para Open is:
Chris Ryan, 33, Welwyn Garden City (class 2)
Daniel Thomson, 19, Brighton/Sheffield (class 7)
Jacob Wicks, 19, Cwmbran/Sheffield (class 6)
Jaiden Caldeira, 20, Barnet (class TBC)
Joseph Fortnum Adams, 18, Ipswich (class TBC)
Max Flint, 20, Guildford/Loughborough (class 10)
Ryan Henry, 24, Ardrossan/Sheffield (class 8)
Shae Thakker, 21, High Wycombe/Sheffield (class 10)
Theo Bishop, 21, Rossendale/Sheffield (class 7)