Shilton takes silver in Para Showcase at Singapore Smash
Gloucestershire’s Billy Shilton produced some great performances to take silver in the men’s singles in the Para Showcase at the Singapore Smash, one of the leading events in world table tennis taking place at the Singapore Sports Hub.
Last year’s inaugural Para showcase featured athletes from classes 6 and 7 and this year the event featured 19 of the best athletes in the world from class 8 – 11 men and eight women. World number eight Shilton was joined in the men’s singles by world number seven Aaron McKibbin with world number 10 Grace Williams competing in the women’s singles.
World doubles champion Shilton, 26, from Stonehouse, began with a comfortable 3-0 win against Lee Caleb Jia Xuan from Singapore and then after taking the first two sets 11-1 11-6 against Clement Berthier he recovered from losing the third set 11-9 to take the fourth 11-7 and beat the World number three from France 3-1. He then came through a great battle against Maksym Chudzicki, taking the match 3-2, 11-4 in the fifth, after the European bronze medallist from Poland had twice come back to level.
That win took Shilton through to the semi-finals as winner of group 2 and he looked to be in control against Borna Zohil after taking the first two sets 11-6 11-3. But the 18-year-old from Croatia, winner of the World Paralympic Qualification tournament last year, fought back to level at 2-2 and force a deciding set that Shilton won 11-6. His reward was a final against the reigning World and Paralympic champion Viktor Didukh and the World number one from Ukraine was at his very best in a 3-0 win.
“I’m really pleased to have made the final here in Singapore,” said Shilton. “It was a great event and I’m really happy with the level I showed up until the final. Beating Clement, Borna and Chudzicki – they are top players in our class – and I felt like I played my table tennis and the things I’ve been working on with Dave and Rushy (BPTT coaches David McBeath and Andrew Rushton) in the hall are all starting to pay off. I think in the final it was a combination of things. I made a lot of mistakes - I was trying to do the right thing but maybe forcing it a bit too much. Didukh is an amazing player and the best player in our class. He doesn’t make many mistakes, and I wasn’t safe enough in the match and I think that was the reason he won so comfortably. But on the whole, I’m really pleased, and it was great to play in the event.”
McKibbin was drawn in a tough group with Didukh and Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri, the Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist from Thailand. He made a great start in his opening match against Didukh, taking the first set 11-4 but the Ukrainian, who played on the ITTF circuit before losing a leg to cancer, came back to take the next two 11-4 11-6 and secured a 3-1 win, 12-10 in the fourth. McKibbin was impressive in beating Wangphonphathanasiri 3-0 to finish runner-up in group 1 but, with only one runner-up going through to join the three group winners in the semi-finals decided by the ratio of winning and losing sets McKibbin, having played only two matches lost out and it was Chudzicki who went through as runner-up from group 2.
“I’m disappointed not to go through but I was really happy with how I played,” said the 33-year-old from Epsom, who reached a career high rank of World number two last year but was disappointed to lose in the quarterfinals of the men’s class 8 singles in Paris. “My game against Didukh was so close – kind of a similar story to the last few times I’ve played him but now I know what I need to work on, and I feel that if I can improve 5-10% it will be enough to get me over the line.
“It’s obviously not normal to have the Paralympic gold and bronze medallists in one group but I’m always very confident against Phisit based on previous performances so I felt that if I played my top level, I would be too strong for him. It’s a good start to the season and the way I played shows me that on a different day Paris could have been a very different story.”
Williams, European silver medallist in 2023, lost her first match 3-1 to Kanlaya Chaiwut-Kriabklang, the Asian Para Games bronze medallist from Thailand who went on to take the gold. She came back to level at 1-1 against World number three Thu Kamkasomphou but the former two-time World and Paralympic champion from France used all her experience to take the match 3-1. Williams started well in her final match, taking the first set against Elena Elli but the Italian fought back to win 3-1.
“Overall, I believe I demonstrated some good things during this competition,” said the 21-year-old from Llanfyllin, who is working her way back to form and fitness after injury. “There were some positives to take from it as well as things to take back to the training hall and work on going forward. It was good to be back - I’ll continue to focus on training with more competitions coming up and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”