Ross Wilson
Date and place of birth: 05/06/1995, Kent
Home town: Minster
Lives: Sheffield
TT Class: 9
Current world ranking: 10
International debut: 2011, Hungary
Major titles: Commonwealth champion 2018, World champion 2018
Ross’s story
Ross first played table tennis while on holiday at Center Parcs and clearly showed an immediate talent for the game as a watching member of staff, noting the Arsenal shirt he was wearing, christened him the Thierry Henry of table tennis. “I loved it straight away,” recalls Ross. “I’m very competitive so I wanted to win and that made me enjoy it even more. Mum and dad bought me a table for Christmas and I went on from there.”
As a junior he was ranked in the top ten in the country, winning two National doubles titles but as he got older it became clear that some physical problem was affecting his development. In 2011 he was diagnosed with multiple epiphyseal dysplasia, which affects the growing ends of the bones, and he joined the GB Para squad, winning bronze in the men’s class 6-8 team event in London 2012 at the age of just 17. He overcame a series of injuries and two years out of the sport to qualify for Rio 2016 and take bronze again in the men’s class 6-8 team.
In April 2018 he won gold in the men’s class 6-10 singles at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and later that year became men’s class 8 World champion after beating the double Paralympic champion from China in the final.
“It has been an amazing year for me with the Commonwealths and now this,” he said, “I really can’t believe it to be honest. After so many injuries it means the world to me. When you are injured so many times you begin to doubt if it will happen for you. You doubt yourself a bit as well, but you have to keep going and just believe in yourself. When I was seven someone asked me what I wanted to do when I was older and when I said I wanted to be world champion they just laughed. So, for it to come true now is just a crazy feeling.”
Despite further injury problems Ross competed in his third Paralympic Games in Tokyo and took team bronze with Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton. After taking bronze in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 he took bronze at the World Championships after losing a very close semi-final to Thomas Bouvais from France, 16-14 in the fifth, and also took silver in the men’s class 18 doubles with Joshua Stacey.
After winning gold in the men’s class 8 singles in the Czech Para Open – beating World number one Viktor Didukh for the first time – and the US Open in 2023 Ross had high hopes of a first European title but on the eve of the tournament he was reclassified into class 9. He dealt with the challenge with typical fortitude, reaching the quarterfinal and forcing World number one Laurens Devos, the two-time World and Paralympic champion to produce his brilliant best in order to defeat him 3-1. Ross went on to take bronze with Joshua Stacey in the men’s class 18 doubles.
“I’m extremely proud of how the tournament has gone,” he said. “It has been a tough week, but I guess I pride myself on resilience and I think I’ve had to show that quite a lot this week.”
In 2024 Ross took bronze in the men’s class 9 singles at the Polish Open but missed out on qualification for Paris on his world ranking and subsequently lost in the quarterfinals at the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament to the Chinese player Liu Chaodong.
Since September 2022 Ross has been combining his table tennis with studying for a psychology degree and achieved a 2:1 in his end of first year exams.
2024 Results:
Paralympic World Qualification Tournament, Thailand – QF, men’s singles (class 9)
Slovenia Open – group stages, men’s singles (class 9); silver, men’s doubles (class 18)
Polish Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 9); gold, men’s doubles (class 18)
2023 Results:
European Championships, Sheffield, UK – QF, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
US Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s doubles (class 18)
Czech Para Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s doubles (class 18); group stages, mixed doubles (class 14)
2022 Results:World Championships, Spain – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s doubles (class 14)
Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England – bronze, men’s singles (class 8-10)
Slovenia Open – QF, men’s singles (class 8); L16, men’s doubles (class MD18)
Costa Brava Spanish Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class MS18); QF, mixed doubles (class XS17)
2021 Results:
Paralympic Games, Tokyo – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
2019 Results:
Dutch Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8)
Finland Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8)
European Championships, Sweden – silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Japan Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
2018 Results:
World Championships, Celje, Slovenia – gold, men’s singles (class 8)
Slovenian Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
Commonwealth Games, Australia – gold, men’s singles (class 6-10)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s teams (class 8)
2017 Results:
European Championships, Slovenia – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
Bayreuth Open, Germany – gold, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Lignano Master Open – last 16, men’s singles (class 8)
2016 Results:
Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro - bronze, men’s teams (class 6-8); group stages, men’s singles (class 8)
Slovenia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF men’s singles (class 8)
2015 Results:
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - bronze, men’s teams (class 8), QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF men’s singles (class 8)
Hungarian Open - silver, men’s singles (class 8)
2014 Results:
Cote d’Azur International, France - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
Career Highlights:
2022: World Championships, Spain – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s doubles (class 14)
Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, England – bronze, men’s singles (class 8-10)
Costa Brava Spanish Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class MS18)
2021: Paralympic Games, Tokyo – bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
2019: European Championships, Sweden – silver, men’s teams (class 8)
2018: World Championships, Celje, Slovenia – gold, men’s singles (class 8)
Commonwealth Games, Australia – gold, men’s singles (class 6-10)
2017: European Championships, Slovenia – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
Bayreuth Open, Germany – gold, men’s singles (class 8)
2016: Paralympic Games, Rio de Janeiro - bronze, men’s teams (class 6-8)
2015: European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
2014: Cote d’Azur International, France - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
2012: Paralympic Games, London - bronze, men’s teams (class 6-8)
Slovenian Open - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
2011: European Championships, Split, Croatia - silver, men’s singles (class 8)