Hunter-Spivey, Shilton and Stacey take National titles

Jack Hunter-Spivey and Billy Shilton took the honours in the Para classes at the Mark Bates Ltd Table Tennis England Senior National Championships in Nottingham, winning the Class 2-5 and Class 6-10 finals respectively, and at the Butterfly Welsh National Championships in Cardiff Joshua Stacey retained his Para class 6-10 singles title.

All three players are included in a squad of 13 heading to Poland this week for the ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo (March 26-29).

In Nottingham Hunter-Spivey won his group beating Romain Simon (3-0) and Chris Ryan (3-1) while Shackleton secured her place in the final with wins against Thomas Hepburn (3-1) and Simon Heaps (3-0).

In the final class 5 Hunter-Spivey was always in control against class 4 Shackleton and was a 3-0 winner.

“There were definitely things from training I brought into the Nationals this weekend trying to get prepared for Poland this week,” said Hunter-Spivey, who won Paralympic bronze in Tokyo but missed out on qualification for Paris. “Credit to everyone who’s helped me get to this point.”

Experience proved decisive in class 6-10 with Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton seeing off challenges from improving young players in the group matches to reach the final. McKibbin saved set points before taking a tight first set against Max Flint 14-12 before going on to win 3-0 and then beat Theo Bishop in three close sets. Shilton was a 3-0 winner against Jaiden Caldeira and came through a tough match against Shae Thakker 3-2 after Thakker had twice come back to level.

Shilton started well in the final and led 1-0 and again at 2-1 but McKibbin twice came back to level and take it into a deciding set. Shilton led 8-4 but McKibbin kept fighting and had his chance at 10-9 before Shilton saved the match point and went on to clinch the set 13-11 to take the title.

“I felt like it was a great match and I’m really happy with the level I showed,” said Shilton, who was continuing his good start to the season having reached the final of the Singapore Smash last month. “Aaron and I are great friends so it’s never nice to play him in a big match like this. I felt that I adapted well when the match started to change and maybe that’s why I won today. We practice together all the time so it’s never easy as we know each other’s game inside out. I’m really proud to have won the title this year as it’s my first time so I’m hoping I can continue this form going into Poland.”

In Cardiff the Para class was played in a round-robin format with Stacey winning all his three matches against Grace Williams (3-0), Jacob Wicks (3-0) and Paul Karabardak (3-0) with Karabardak taking second place after beating Wicks (3-0) and Williams (3-0).

“I’m obviously happy to have retained my title and I feel good looking towards Poland this week,” said Stacey. “I feel that the training and the work I’ve been putting in will pay dividends and I’m looking forward to trying to put in a really good performance first in singles and then in doubles with both Aaron and Bly.”

Poland will be the first international tournament since last summer’s Paralympic Games for Stacey as well as Paris medallists Rob Davies (men’s class 1), Bly Twomey (women’s class 7) and Paul Karabardak (men’s class six). They will be joined by Tom Matthews (men’s class 1), Martin Perry (men’s class 6), Theo Bishop (men’s class 7), Aaron McKibbin (men’s class 8), Megan Shackleton (women’s class 4), Fliss Pickard (women’s class 6) and Grace Williams (women’s class 8).

The British squad for the ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo (March 26-29) is:

Theo Bishop, 21, Rossendale/Sheffield – class 7

Rob Davies, 40, Brecon – class 1

Jack Hunter-Spivey, 29, Liverpool/Sheffield – class 5

Paul Karabardak, 40, Swansea – class 6

Thomas Matthews, 32, Aberdare – class 1

Aaron McKibbin, 33, London (Wandsworth)/Epsom – class 8

Martin Perry, 30, Paisley/Dumbarton – class 6

Fliss Pickard, 30, Burnley/Sheffield – class 6

Megan Shackleton, 26, Todmorden/Sheffield – class 4

Billy Shilton, 26, Stonehouse (Gloucester)/Sheffield – class 8

Joshua Stacey, 25, Cardiff/Sheffield – class 9

Bly Twomey, 14, Brighton – class 7
Grace Williams, 21, Llanfyllin/Sheffield – class 8