Ashley Facey
Date and place of birth: 31/01/1995, London (Whitechapel)
Home town: London (Stratford)
Lives: Sheffield
TT Class: 9
Current world ranking: 12
International debut: 2009
Ashley’s story
Ashley’s mother nurtured his love of sport after he was born with Erbs palsy, which affected the nerves in the right side of his body, primarily in his arm and shoulder. “I played basketball, cricket, football, tennis, boxing and swimming and that is when I fell in love with sport,” he said. “Mum originally thought I was going to be a swimmer because I loved swimming – I’m just a sporty person and I love trying different sports.”
He was introduced to table tennis at Morpeth School in Bethnal Green, East London and immediately impressed coaches with his natural talent. “To be told I was good at something meant a lot to me, particularly at that age,” he explained. “Back then I wasn’t academically smart, and it is hard when you are a kid to hear negative comments all the time. It was nice to feel that I was good at something and I fell in love with table tennis – it was so fast and fun.”
Ashley joined the GB Para squad in 2009 and although he just missed out on the team for London 2012, he was selected for the Paralympic Inspiration Programme. He performed with credit at his first Paralympic Games in Rio 2016 and reached the quarter-finals of the men’s class 9-10 team competition with Kim Daybell, losing to China.
In 2017 Ashley moved to Sheffield to train full time with the GB squad after completing his course in sports coaching and analysis at London’s South Bank University. The move paid dividends at the European Championships in Slovenia where he reached the quarter-finals of the men’s class 9 singles, losing to World number one Laurens Devos, and then won a superb silver medal in the men’s class 10 team event with Kim Daybell. The GB pair beat World silver medallists Russia and Paralympic silver medallists Spain before losing to World champions Poland in the final.
Ashley reached the quarterfinals at the World Championships in 2018 and won European team bronze with Daybell and Joshua Stacey in 2019. After reaching the semi-finals of the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament he received a wild card to compete in Tokyo where he narrowly failed to progress from his group in the men’s class 9 singles and reached the quarterfinals of the men’s class 9-10 team event with Joshua Stacey.
After Tokyo, Ashley made the decision to swap his table tennis bat for a bicycle after discovering a passion for cycling during lockdown in 2020. However, he returned to BPTT in December 2022 and was selected for the European Championships in Sheffield in 2023 but could not produce his best form and went out of the singles having been drawn in a very strong group.
“I missed Para table tennis and wanted to come back,” he said. “Transferring to cycling made me realise how much I still love the sport of table tennis and I missed competing and training as a table tennis player. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and being away from table tennis has certainly done that for me. I still love cycling but as a hobby not a sport to compete in as an elite athlete. I’m so happy and feel very blessed to be a part of BPTT again.”
In January 2024 Ashley took gold in the men’s class 9 singles at the US Open followed by bronze medals in Brazil and Italy. He missed out on qualification for the Paralympic Games in Paris but showed his character by subsequently taking silver in the Czech Open.
One of the team’s band of Arsenal fans, Ashley is also a keen basketball fan and supports the LA Lakers.
2024 Results:
Czech Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); QF, men’s doubles (class 18)
Slovenia Open – group stages, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s doubles (class 18)
Polish Open – group stages, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s doubles (class 18)
Costa Brava Spanish Open – group stages, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
Lignano Masters Para Open, Italy – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); QF, men’s doubles (class 18)
Brazil Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s doubles (class 18)
US Open – gold, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s doubles (class 18)
2023 Results:
European Championships, Sheffield, UK – group stages, men’s singles (class 9); L16, men’s doubles (class 18); L16, mixed doubles (class 17)
Czech Para Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s doubles (class 18)
Polish Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
Slovenia Open – QF, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
Lignano Masters Open, Italy – QF, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s doubles (class 18)
2021 Results:Paralympic Games, Tokyo – groups stages, men’s singles (class 9); QF, men’s teams (class 9-10)
World Qualification Tournament, Slovenia – SF, men’s singles (class 9)
2020 Results:
Costa Brava Spanish Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 9-10)
Polish Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9)
2019 Results:
China Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); group stages, men’s teams (class 9-10)
Finland Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 9)
European Championships, Sweden – bronze, men’s teams (class 10); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Czech Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 9)
Japan Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 9)
Polish Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); QF, men’s teams (class 9-10)
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s teams (class 9); L16 men’s singles (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – QF, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 10)
2018 Results
World Championships, Slovenia – QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Czech Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 10)
Slovenian Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); QF, men’s teams (class 9)
Slovakia Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s teams (class 9-10)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 9-10)
2017 Results:
European Championships, Lasko, Slovenia – silver, men’s teams (class 10); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Bayreuth Open, Germany – QF, men’s singles (men’s class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 9)
Slovenia Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – QF (withdrew due to injury), men’s singles (class 9)
2016 Results:
Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro - QF men’s teams (class 9-10); group stages men’s singles (class 9)
Slovakia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 10); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Slovenia Open - last 16, men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 9-10)
2015 Results:
Copa Costa Rica - silver, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
Belgian Open - silver, men’s teams (class 9); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - QF men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Bayreuth Open, Germany - bronze, men’s teams (class 9); last 16, men’s singles (class 9)
Slovakia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9); last 16 men’s singles (class 9)
Slovenia Open - QF men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - bronze men’s teams (class 10); QF men’s singles (class 9)
Hungarian Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9-10); QF men’s singles (class 9)
2014 Results:
Cote d’Azur International, France - bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s singles (class 9-10)
Slovakia Open - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); group stages, men’s teams (class 9)
Slovenia Open - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); group stages, men’s teams (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); 4th, men’s teams (class 9-10)
National Championships - winner, men’ singles (class 8-9); winner, doubles (mixed class 6-11)
Career Highlights:
2023: Czech Para Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s doubles (class 18)
Polish Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
2021: Paralympic Games, Tokyo – groups stages, men’s singles (class 9); QF, men’s teams (class 9-10)
2019: China Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9)
Finland Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 9)
Championships, Sweden – bronze, men’s teams (class 10); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Japan Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s teams (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – gold, men’s teams (class 10)
2018: Slovakia Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s teams (class 9-10)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – gold, men’s teams (class 9-10)
2017: European Championships, Lasko, Slovenia – silver, men’s teams (class 10); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Slovenia Open – silver, men’s singles (class 9)
2016: Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro - QF men’s teams (class 9-10); group stages men’s singles (class 9)
Slovakia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
2015: Copa Costa Rica - silver, men’s singles (class 9)
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - QF men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Bayreuth Open, Germany - bronze, men’s teams (class 9)
Slovakia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - bronze men’s teams (class 10)
Hungarian Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9-10)
2014: Cote d’Azur International, France - bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
National Championships - winner, men’ singles (class 8-9); winner, doubles (mixed class 6-11)
2013: Lignano Open, Italy - bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
Hungarian Open - bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 9)
2011: Bayreuth Open, Germany - gold, men’s teams (class 10)
2010: Lignano Open, Italy - gold, men’s teams (class 10)
Further results are available at: http://www.ipttc.org/players/men/ashley_facey_thompson/index.htm