Gold for Shilton and Twomey in Poland
Billy Shilton and 14-year-old Bly Twomey won gold in the men’s class 8 and women’s class 7-8 singles respectively at the ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo in Poland today while Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6) and Joshua Stacey (men’s class 9) took bronze.
Women’s class 7-8
With women’s classes 7 and 8 combined, class 7 Twomey was up against three class 8 athletes in group 3 and she began with a 3-1 win against World number 11 Zsofia Arloy from Hungary. She led 2-0 against Frederique Van Hoof and then showed all her fighting qualities to take the deciding set 11-6 after the World number eight and World bronze medallist from Netherlands had come back to level at 2-2.
Twomey secured her place in the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win against fellow teenager Freja Larsen, last year’s French Open champion from Denmark, and was a 3-1 winner against Elena Elli, the class 8 World number nine from Italy. In the semi-final against class 8 World number four Sophia Kelmer, she fought back from 2-1 down to take the fourth set 11-2 and took the deciding set 11-5 to beat the World bronze medallist from Brazil 3-2.
The final was a rematch with Van Hoof and Twomey secured the gold with an emphatic 3-0 win (11-2 11-5 11-8) to continue her remarkable progress since she made her international debut two years ago.
“I’m really proud of how I’ve played in this tournament,” said Twomey. “I’ve been training hard in Brighton since Paris, and I feel I’m improving daily. To play class 8 was very difficult and challenging but I fought my way through the matches, playing my game and not making it easy for my opponents. Kelmer really stood her ground against me playing some unbelievably good points, but I worked my way through it and I had Andrew (BPTT head coach Andrew Rushton) by my side who has an amazing understanding of the game.
“Playing Van Hoof in the group stage and winning 3-2 allowed me to have the resilience to know I could beat her again. She played well in the final, but I feel that I had the edge through the final which gave me the upper hand. Playing class 8 was a massive learning curve and as this is my first Para competition of the year I’m excited to play the future tournaments.”
Grace Williams lost her first match in group 2 to Sophia Kelmer 3-0 and then fought back superbly from 2-0 down to beat Nora Korneliussen, the class 7 World number 10 and European bronze medallist from Norway, taking the third and fourth sets 12-10 to level at 2-2 and then clinching the deciding set 11-9 for a 3-2 win. Williams went out in the quarterfinals after a 3-0 loss to Van Hoof.
Men’s class 8
Billy Shilton began with a 3-0 win against the talented 11-year-old from Poland Tobiasz Glowczyk, silver medallist in the World AbilitySport Youth Games, and secured his place in the last 16 as winner of group 5 with a 3-1 win against Nicklas Westerberg, taking the fourth set 14-12 after the former European bronze medallist from Sweden had fought back from 2-0 down. He beat Kamil Kowalski, the World AbilitySport Youth Games bronze medallist from Poland 3-1 and then came through a five-set battle against World number seven Emil Andersson, taking the deciding set 11-7 after the former World and Paralympic medallist from Sweden had levelled at 2-2.
Shilton produced a great performance in the semi-finals to beat World number three Clement Berthier from France 3-0 and went on to clinch the gold medal with a 3-1 win in the final against 18-year-old World number 12 Borna Zohil from Croatia, who won gold in the World Paralympic Qualification Tournament last year.
“I’m obviously unbelievably happy to have won gold,” said Shilton, who was continuing his great start to the season after reaching the final of the Singapore Smash last month and winning the English National Para class 6-10 title last weekend. “I think winning a tight match against Emil set me up for the day. I felt I had a lot of confidence after that match, and it showed in the last two matches I played. I played probably some of my best table tennis against Clement in the semi-final and used that confidence going into the final against Borna. I’ve put a lot of work in after Paris – I was really disappointed with my singles efforts there and I’ve been working really hard to not have that feeling of disappointment again.”
Aaron McKibbin was a 3-0 winner against 16-year-old Yehonatan Levi from Israel and then came through a tough battle against Alejandro Diaz. The European doubles bronze medallist from Spain twice came back to level before McKibbin took the deciding set 11-6 to go through to the last 16 as group 4 winner.
A 3-0 win against Sean Geoghegan from Ireland set up a quarterfinal against World number 10 Maksym Chudzicki and after the European bronze medallist from Poland had taken the fourth set 13-11 to level at 2-2 he also edged the deciding set 12-10 to take the match 3-2.
Women’s class 6
Fliss Pickard has had some great battles in the past against World number 10 Gabriela Constantin, winning their most recent meeting in Spain last year in five sets, and she put up a great performance to beat the European bronze medallist from Romania 3-0, clinching the win 12-10 in the third. Pickard led 2-0 against World number six Katarzyna Marszal and then secured a 3-1 win, 11-9 in the fourth after the World and European silver medallist and former World champion from Poland had taken the third set.
As winner of group two Pickard received a bye into the semi-finals where she lost 3-0 to Cajsa Stadler from Sweden.
Men’s class 9
Joshua Stacey was a 3-0 winner against Brazilian teenager Joao Pedro Ribeiro Possas and then recovered from dropping the first set to beat Koyo Iwabuchi, the Asian Para Games silver medallist and former World bronze medallist from Japan, 3-1. That ensured that he progressed to the knockout stages as group winner, and he put up a great performance to beat World number two Lucas Didier in five sets. Stacey led 2-0 before the 21-year-old Paralympic silver medallist from France took the third set 11-5 and then edged a tense fourth set 16-14 to level at 2-2 but the Welshman was not to be denied and he took the deciding set 11-4.
He could not produce his best form in the semi-final and had to settle for bronze after a 3-0 loss to World number four Ander Cepas, the 20-year-old Paralympic bronze medallist from Spain.
“Against Didier I started off really well,” said Stacey, “and he didn’t really know how to cope with what I was doing. He changed tactics a bit going into the fourth set and I just didn’t adjust well enough, but I amended my game well in the fifth and managed to win. In the semi-final I think Cepas played a lot better than me, and I didn’t force him to play enough table tennis to cause him enough issues to win the match. I’ve got doubles to play with Aaron and Bly so that is the focus now for the next couple of days.”
Women’s class 1-5
Megan Shackleton won 3-0 against class 3 Sanja Bogunovic from Serbia and secured top place in her group with a 3-0 win against class 3 World number 13 Marliane Amaral, surviving a fightback from the World doubles bronze medallist from Brazil in the third set to take it 13-11 on her third match point. She had to withdraw from her quarterfinal against World number six Caroline Tabib from Israel due to illness.
Men’s class 1-2
Class 1 Tom Matthews faced a tough challenge against the class 2 World number four Luis Flores, but he started well and took the first set 11-7 before the Para PanAmerican champion from Chile came back to win 3-1. Matthews lost the first set to class 1 Adam Urlauber from Hungary, the silver medallist in the Paralympic World Qualification tournament last year but fought back to lead 2-1 and edged the fourth set 12-10 to secure a 3-1 win and a place in the last 16.
The Welshman faced another difficult opponent in Jan Riapos, the class 2 former World number one and three-time Paralympic champion, and although he fought back from 2-0 down to take the third set he went out after the Slovakian took the fourth 11-6 for a 3-1 win.
Men’s class 4-5
In his first international tournament for nearly a year Jack Hunter-Spivey began with a 3-1 win against Daniil Ustinov from Poland. He then recovered from dropping the first set 11-5 to beat World number 11 David Olsson from Sweden, gold medallist in the Czech Open and the French Open in 2024, 3-1 and secure his place in the knockout stages.
A 3-0 win against European mixed doubles medallist Tomislav Spalj from Croatia in the last 16 took him through to the quarterfinals where he twice came back to level against Kazuki Shichino from Japan but lost the deciding set 11-8.
Men’s class 6
Paul Karabardak had a tough opening match against World number two Peter Rosenmeier from Denmark and despite a 3-0 loss the Welshman contributed to a high-quality match that the former two-time World and Paralympic champion from Denmark had to produce some of his best form to win. Karabardak then showed all his character to come back from 2-0 down to beat Michael Azulay, the World number 12 from Sweden who won their last meeting in Slovenia last year, 3-2 and progress from group 1 to the quarterfinals where he lost 3-0 to World number five Bobi Simion from Romania.
In group 3 Martin Perry found himself two sets down to Rafal Kraft and although he fought back to take the third 14-12 the 41-year-old from Poland, silver medallist in the French Open last year, edged the fourth 17-15 for a 3-1 win. Perry led Bobi Simion 2-1 in his second match, but the Romanian levelled at 2-2 and won the deciding set 11-5 to take the match 3-2. A 3-0 win in his final match against Benedikt Muller from Germany was not enough to see Perry through to the knockout stages.
Men’s class 7
Theo Bishop lost his opening match to the German World number six Bjoern Schnake, the European bronze medallist and winner of the Paralympic World Qualification tournament last year, 3-0 and did not progress after a 3-1 loss to Yannick Paredis from Netherlands, bronze medallist in the Costa Brava Spanish Open and the French Open last year.
The tournament continues with the doubles events that conclude on Saturday.