Six doubles medals for British team in Poland
Gold for Grace Williams and her Swedish partner Anja Handen in the women’s class 14-20 doubles was the highlight of some promising doubles performances for the British Para table tennis team at the ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo in Poland today, with silver medals for Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Stacey in men’s class 18 and Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton in mixed class 10 and bronze for Fliss Pickard and Bly Twomey (women’s class 14-20), Joshua Stacey and Bly Twomey (mixed class 17-20) and Megan Shackleton with Caroline Tabib from Israel (women’s class 5-10).
Women’s class 14-20
Grace Williams and Anja Handen, the class 10 World number eight progressed from their group with 3-0 wins against Zsofia Arloy and Kinga Mihalffy from Hungary and Cajsa Stadler and Smilla Sand from Sweden.
Fliss Pickard and Bly Twomey, class 14 bronze medallists in Paris, fought back from 2-1 down to beat Barbara Jablonka and Katarzyna Marszal from Poland 3-2 and then beat Camelia Ciripan and Gabriela Constantin from Romania 3-0. They lost 3-1 to Tereza Cakorova from Czechia and Freja Larsen from Denmark but progressed from their group to the semi-finals where they put up a great fight against the class 18 pair of Williams and Handen, coming back from 2-0 down to take the third set 11-8 and losing a tight fourth set 12-10.
Williams and Handen went on to take the gold, beating Tereza Cakorova from Czechia and Freya Larsen from Denmark in the final, 3-0.
“Winning gold feels good,” said Williams, who won the women’s class 14 World title with Pickard in 2022. “After the singles I felt that I had something to prove. I’ve played with Anja once before, so we already knew how each other works on the table and we gave a very strong performance in the final which got us the gold medal. Playing Fliss and Bly was tough, but I tried to think that they were just opponents and not my teammates.”
“Fliss and I have done exceptionally well this tournament and beaten some good class 14 pairs,” said Twomey. “Against Czechia and Denmark, I feel we played very well considering they are a much more able pair and have that much more power in their shots. Sadly, we lost the match and had to play Grace and Anja which was very challenging and as Grace is a teammate she obviously knows our game well. I was very pleased with how we played in the semi-final, and I think it is one of the best matches we have played together. We are always developing our game and progressing our partnership every time we play. Fliss is an experienced player, and we are always pushing each other to play our best.”
“Bly and I worked brilliantly together this tournament,” said Pickard. “It’s always difficult playing a teammate but I think we had big chances in the semi-final and can take a lot of confidence going forward for the women’s class 14 event.”
Men’s class 18
Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Stacey were 3-0 winners against Tobiasz Glowczyk and Jan Dukalski from Poland and then came through a five-set battle against Gabriel De Oliveira Antunes and Jean Carlos De Souza Mashki, the Para PanAmerican champions from Brazil, taking the deciding set 11-8 for a 3-2 win.
They won their quarterfinal against Borna Zohil and Pavao Jozic from Croatia 3-0 and secured their place in the final with a 3-1 win against Pawel Wlodyka and Michal Deigsler, taking control of the match after the Polish pair had edged a close second set 16-14 to level at 1-1.
That took McKibbin and Stacey through to the final to face Lev Kats and Ivan Mai and they never really recovered from a slow start after which they found themselves 2-0 down. Although they played some great doubles to take the third 11-5 and led 5-3 in the fourth the World champions from Ukraine took the set 11-8 and the match 3-1.
“I think up until the final we played very well,” said McKibbin. “We had a bad start against a very good team but in the middle of the match we played very well. We just need to bring that level for the whole match, and we can beat anyone. I think Josh and I work so well together and I really enjoy playing with him. We have only played four competitions and made three finals so we know that on our day we can win against any team and that is positive for the future towards LA.”
Mixed class 10 RR
Jack Hunter-Spivey and Megan Shackleton started with a 3-0 win against Maycon Antonio De Oliveira and Marliane Amaral from Brazil and then lost a five-set battle against Nicolas Savant-Aira from France and Helena Dretar Karic from Croatia 11-6 in the deciding set having fought back to level at 2-2. They beat Florian Merrien from France and Caroline Tabib from Israel 3-0 and finished with the silver medal after a 3-1 loss to Carlos Eduardo Freire De Moraes and Para PanAmerican mixed doubles champion Joyce De Oliveira from Brazil.
“It was great to get back out for the doubles,” said Shackleton, who had to withdraw from her singles quarterfinal due to illness. “I felt I’d made a promising start and was disappointed to withdraw as I felt I was in good form to progress further. The doubles was a good start to the season. Jack and I showed some promise and it’s just about solidifying that now and building on it for the rest of the year – and it’s always great to team up with Caroline.”
“It’s been a pleasure to play with Megan and a really solid start to the season,” said Hunter-Spivey. “We played some really good stuff and I’m looking forward to what the season can bring us. Hopefully going forward we can bring some big medals back.”
Mixed class 17-20
Joshua Stacey and Bly Twomey were 3-1 winners against Jean Carlos De Souza Mashki and Sophia Kelmer from Brazil and then lost 3-1 to Borna Zohil and Mirjana Lucic from Croatia. They progressed to the semi-finals as group runners-up and after losing a close first set 12-10 they were beaten 3-1 by Paulo Fonseca and Bruna Alexandre from Brazil.
“Playing with Josh was an incredible experience,” said Twomey, “and I feel privileged to play with such a talented player. Playing mixed doubles is a whole different game compared to women’s doubles as the opponents have a lot more power and placement with their shots. Our semi-final against Brazil was very tough. We had our chances, and I made mistakes that I probably shouldn’t have but I’ll go back to Brighton and improve these things and come back stronger.”
Women’s class 5-10 RR
Megan Shackleton and Caroline Tabib from Israel began with a 3-0 win against Sanja Bogunovic and Ana Zelen from Serbia and then lost 3-0 to the Para PanAmerican champions from Brazil Joyce De Oliveira and Catia Oliveira. They were 3-1 winners against Thais Fraga Severo and Marliane Amaral from Brazil and finished in bronze medal position after losing their final round-robin match to Andela Muzinic Vincetic and Helena Dretar Karic from Croatia in three deuce sets - 15-13/12-10/13-11.
Men’s class 8
Jack Hunter-Spivey and his class 3 partner Ihor Reizner from Ukraine did not progress from their group after losing 3-0 to Nicolas Savant-Aira and Sylvain Noel from France, 3-1 to Vasyl Petruniv and Pavlo Sahirov from Ukraine and 3-1 to Carlos Eduardo Freire De Moraes and Fabio Silva from Brazil.
Men’s class 14
Martin Perry and Billy Shilton lost a close first set 13-11 to Paulo Fonseca from Brazil and Ignacio Torres from Chile but recovered to win 3-1. They were 2-1 down to Krizander Magnussen from Norway and Peter Rosenmeier from Denmark before fighting back to win 3-2 and secured their place in the knockout stages as winners of group 3 with a 3-0 win against Rafal Kraft and Kamil Kowalski from Poland.
Perry and Shilton started well in their quarterfinal against Jonas Hansson and Sam Gustafsson, taking the first set 11-8 but the Swedish pair edged a tight second set 15-13 and the third 12-10 before securing a 3-1 win, 11-6 in the fourth.
Paul Karabardak and Theo Bishop were drawn in a tough group and lost in four close sets to Clement Berthier and Esteban Herrault, the European champions from France. They fought hard and twice came back to level against Emil Andersson and Michael Azulay but the Swedish pair took the deciding set 11-8.
Mixed class 14
Martin Perry and Grace Williams led class 8 World number four Maksym Nikolenko and class 6 World number one Maryna Lytovchenko 2-1 before the Ukrainian pair came back to win 3-2. They also had their chances against Peter Rosenmeier and Freja Larsen from Denmark but did not progress after a 3-1 loss.