Williams takes bronze in Montenegro

Confirmation athlete Grace Williams has underlined her potential by taking bronze in the women’s class 7-9 singles at the Montenegro Para Championships in Podgorica, her first international singles medal.

The 19-year-old from Llanfyllin had reached the semi-final with 3-1 wins in her group against Maria Kaipi from Greece and fellow teenager Magdalena Sutkowska Pawlasek from Poland, who had won their only previous meeting 3-0 at the French Para Open last year.

In the semi-final she faced Juliane Wolf from Germany and the class 8 World number five took the first two sets. Williams fought back well to take the third 11-4 before the former World and European medallist secured her place in the final, 11-4 in the fourth.

“The tournament has so far been a great experience,” said Williams, “winning my first singles medal and beating players who I had lost to previously. I’ve demonstrated that to become a better player I need to believe in myself and play my own game on the table. My match against Magdalena yesterday was tough as I lost to her last year - this time I set out to play my own game but to be more controlled and take my time. The sets were close apart from winning the last against Magdalena 11-0. I feel that I am improving against the top players. I didn’t expect to take a set off Wolf but I played really well and used tactics to avoid her exploiting my weaknesses. The semi-final showed me that I can get to the top level if I keep working hard.”