Fliss Pickard was the star of the British Para Table Tennis Team in the ITTF World Para Elite Lasko tournament in Slovenia, taking silver in the women’s class 6 singles to add to the silver she won in last week’s Challenger event.
There were four singles medals in total for the team with Rob Davies (men’s class 1), Aaron McKibbin (men’s class 8) and Joshua Stacey (men’s class 9) all taking bronze in their respective events.
This Elite tournament was even stronger than last week’s Challenger and against very tough opposition eight British players made it through their groups to the knockout stages.
Three further players narrowly missed out in fifth-set deciders and the team can take plenty of positives to build on going into the next tournaments that will determine qualification for the World Championships in Thailand in November.
Women’s class 6
Fliss Pickard was a 3-0 winner against Cajsa Stadler, the European bronze medallist from Sweden and then showed all her fighting spirit and determination to come back from 2-1 down and beat Barbara Jablonka, the European Paralympic Youth Games champion from Poland 11-7 in the deciding set. She had to dig deep again to come through 13-11 in the fourth set to beat Antonina Khodzynskaya, the former world, Paralympic and European medallist from Ukraine 3-1 and secure her place in the semi-finals as group winner.
Pickard started well against Jin Yucheng taking the first set 11-8 and came back from 6-1 down to take the second 11-9. The 17-year-old Para Asian champion and Paris 2024 Paralympic women’s doubles champion from China raced through the third set 11-2 and led 10-6 in the fourth but Pickard levelled at 10-10 and took the set 13-11 and the match 3-1.
In the final she faced world No 2 Maryna Lytovchenko. The two-time world champion and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion from Ukraine beat Pickard 3-1 in the final of the Challenger event last week and she was once again at her best today in a 3-0 win.
“Obviously I’m disappointed with the final,” said Pickard, “but when I’ve had time to reflect on the last two weeks here and the previous week in Montenegro some of the wins I’ve had have been incredible. To keep that level for three weeks shows that I’m one of the best players in the world and I can really build on that for the future.
“It’s been three tough weeks, and every opponent now is becoming tougher and tougher – there are no easy matches in class 6 so I’m really pleased and I hope I can carry that on into the rest of the season.”
Men’s class 1
Rob Davies was a 3-0 winner against Alan Papirer, the world No 12 from France and then came through another great battle with old rival Endre Major, the 2023 European champion and Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist from Hungary. The Welshman took the first set 12-10, Major the second 11-8 and Davies the third 12-10 before clinching a marathon fourth set 17-15 to win 3-1. That secured his place in the knockout stages as group winner, and he received a quarter-final bye into the semi-finals.
Davies twice fought back to level against Timo Natunen and again fought back from 7-4 down in the deciding set to level at 7-7. He saved two match points at 10-7 down but the world No 8 from Finland took the set 11-9 to win 3-2.
“I’m just really angry with myself right now,” said Davies. “I just didn’t play as I can – again focus was a bit of a struggle, and I definitely need to go away and work on my psych stuff a little bit at home. Tough competition again. Conditions don’t really suit me here – I’ve normally got better serves than that, but I’m relatively pleased with some of the performances, I just didn’t really perform in the semi-finals.”
Davies, who won his fifth European title last year, is focused on the World Championships and with medals from both tournaments in Slovenia despite not playing his best he can take plenty of encouragement back to the training hall.
“I can definitely take positives from both tournaments here,” he said. “I’m definitely up there and one of the leading European guys, I’ve just got to go back and work on stuff with my coach Nathan Thomas who has been brilliant for me. We’ll go back and look through the footage and make improvements in training and really step it up before the Worlds in November. For now, I’ve got lots to work on – on and off the table – so roll on Thailand for me.”
Tom Matthews came through his first match against Gasper Mlakar from Slovenia 3-1 and then played superbly to lead Federico Falco 2-0. The Welshman had two match points in the third set but the European silver medallist and Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist from Italy took the set 14-12 before Matthews clinched a 3-1 win, 11-7 in the fourth. A 3-0 win against Victor Educardo Reyes Turcio, the former two-time Para Pan American champion from Mexico ensured he finished top of his group and went through to a quarter-final against Endre Major.
Matthews won their latest meeting at the European Championships last year in five sets and led 2-1, 9-6 but the Hungarian is such a tough competitor, and he took the fourth set 11-9 to level before taking the deciding set 11-5 to win 3-2.
Men’s class 8
Aaron McKibbin was impressive in beating Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri, the Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist from Thailand 3-0 but never recovered from a slow start against Ludovico Bini, with the European Paralympic Youth Games champion from Italy clinching a 3-0 win, 12-10 in the third.
McKibbin progressed to the round of 16 as group runner-up and a 3-0 win against Clement Berthier, the world No 5 and European champion from France set up a quarter-final against the Paralympic bronze medallist in Tokyo and Paris Maksym Nikolenko, who replaced McKibbin as world No 1 this week.
Their last four meetings had all been close with McKibbin winning three but Nikolenko taking the honours in their latest match in Italy in March. After winning a close first set 11-9 McKibbin took the second 11-6 to lead 2-0 before the Ukrainian raced through the third 11-3 but McKibbin started the fourth set well to lead 5-1 and clinched the set 11-7 to win 3-1.
In the semi-final McKibbin twice fought back to level against Piotr Grudzien from Poland but the world No 4 and Paralympic doubles champion from Poland just had the edge in the deciding set, taking it 11-9 to win 3-2.
“It was very close,” said McKibbin. “He’s obviously a very good player and I feel like I had a big chance in the third set – I think I was leading 9-6 – and if I’d taken that I could have gone on and won 3-1. I think I played well and he also played well and he’s one of the players who’ll be competing for a medal at the World Championships.
“I need to go away and look at what I can improve. This is probably the strongest tournament ever – it’s way stronger than the Paralympics or the Worlds due to the amount of people who can enter so I’m really happy to take a medal. If you can medal at this tournament it means you can medal at the majors and I’m really happy with my performance yesterday as well – two really good wins against the European champion and the world No 1 so there are things I can work on in practice going forward.”
Ryan Henry started strongly against Emil Andersson and led 2-0 before the world No 6 and European silver medallist from Sweden used all his experience to level at 2-2 and take the deciding set 11-4. Henry produced a great performance to beat Jean Carlos De Souza Mashki, the world No 14 and Para Pan American silver medallist from Brazil 3-0 and progress to the knockout stages where he faced world No 3 Hayuma Abe in the round of 16. A close first set went to the Para Asian Championships bronze medallist from Japan 11-9 and Henry responded to losing the second set by taking the third 11-4 before Abe took the fourth 11-5 to win 3-1.
Billy Shilton was drawn in a tough group and fought back from 2-0 down to lead 10-7 against Piotr Grudzien in the third but the Polish player edged the set 13-11 to win 3-0. Shilton did not progress after a 3-0 loss to Zhao Shuai, the three-time Paralympic champion from China.
Men’s class 9
Joshua Stacey was a 3-0 winner against Liu Chaodong, the Para Asian champion and Paralympic doubles silver medallist from China and secured his place in the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win against Ivan Mai, the world No 5 and European bronze medallist from Ukraine. Stacey twice came back to level against Lucas Didier and took the deciding set 11-8 to beat the Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medallist and former world No 2 from France 3-2 and set up a meeting with Laurens Devos.
The reigning World, Paralympic and European champion from Belgium has won every major championship since the Europeans in 2015 and has not lost a match in class 9 since the Belgian Open in 2015 but Stacey pushed him all the way with some great play. Devos took the first set 11-8 but Stacey took the second 13-11 and after Devos had raced through the third set the Welshman responded superbly in the fourth and had chances to take it at 10-8 and 11-10 before Devos clinched it 13-11 to win 3-1.
“In a lot of patches I think I was probably in the driving seat,” said Stacey. “I think I played tactically well for large parts of the match and in others I didn’t. I think in that fourth set especially I played well and played the tactics that I wanted to. He made some really good adjustments going into the fourth set and those last two points that he won probably show how well he can adjust in pivotal moments.
“I think I’ll reflect on the tournament match to match. I wasn’t too pleased with my performance yesterday in the quarter-final against Didier, but I think I gave a better account of myself today – I just couldn’t quite find that little bit at the end to get myself over the line but I can definitely take some positives and I’m looking forward to the doubles tomorrow.”
Men’s class 7
Will Bayley was a 3-0 winner against Hwang Inchun in last week’s Challenger tournament, but the Korean was in inspired form this time and having levelled at 2-2 he capitalised on some uncharacteristic errors from the world No 1 and took the deciding set 11-7 to win 3-2. Bayley bounced back from that disappointment to beat Paulo Salmin, the former five-time Para Pan American champion from Brazil 3-0 and secure his place in the knockout stages.
He was a 3-0 winner in the round of 16 against Katsuyoshi Yagi, the world No 4 and 2023 Asian Para Games gold medallist from Japan and started well against Sam Gustafsson in the quarterfinal, taking the first set 11-4. Bayley had chances at 10-8 and 11-10 to take the third set after the Swedish player had levelled at 1-1 but Gustafsson edged it 14-12 before Bayley came back to take the fourth 11-4 and level at 2-2. Gustafsson raced into a 9-3 lead in the deciding set and although Bayley fought back to level at 9-9 the Swede took the set 11-9 to win 3-2.
“The third set was crucial,” said Bayley, “and I think every set I lost was pretty close but it is just one of those things. I need to go back to the drawing board and think about what I need to work on. I know I’ve got a lot I can improve, and I know I’ll find a way. He played really well and it was one of those 50/50 games – he won the big points and deserved to win today.”
Theo Bishop battled hard against Paulo Fonseca but the world No 2 from Brazil clinched a 3-0 win, 12-10 in the third. Bishop again showed his character by taking the second set to level at 1-1 against Sam Gustafsson but the Swedish player went on to win 3-1.
Women’s class 4-5
Megan Shackleton fought hard against Irem Oluk, saving seven match points in the third set before the world No 3 and European silver medallist from Turkey took it 11-9 to win 3-0. She progressed to the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win against world No 6 Lisa Di Toro, the three-time Oceania Para champion from Australia and had chances at 10-8 to take the third set against class 5 world No 5 Moon Sunghye but the World and Paralympic bronze medallist from the Republic of Korea edged it 13-11 to win 3-0.
Men’s class 2
Chris Ryan produced some great play and twice came back to level against Park Jin Cheol before the world No 1 and Para Asian champion from the Republic of Korea secured a 3-2 win. Ryan again showed his huge potential by taking the fourth set 11-4 to level at 2-2 against Jan Riapos and had match points at 10-8 in the deciding set but the former two-time Paralympic champion and six-time European champion from Slovakia used all his experience to level at 10-10 and take the set 12-10 to win 3-2.
Men’s class 3
Neil Robinson fought back well from 2-0 down against Fabio Silva and led 10-7 in the third before the world No 11 from Brazil edged the set 16-14 to secure a 3-0 win. Robinson lost 3-1 to Slovenian Primoz Kancler in last week’s Challenger tournament and he showed his improvement with a 3-0 win, coming back from 9-4 down in the third to take it 12-10. He started well against Vasyl Petruniv, taking the first set 11-9 but the world No 7 and European bronze medallist from Ukraine levelled at 1-1 and went on to win 3-1.
Men’s class 4-5
Jack Hunter-Spivey lost a tight first set to Lucas Carvalhal 13-11 and took the second 11-9 to level but the 19-year-old world No 5 from Brazil took the third set and then edged the fourth 12-10 to win 3-1. Hunter-Spivey took the first set 11-5 against world No 14 Park Jae Hyeon, but the Korean took the second 11-8 to level at 1-1 and went on to win 3-1.
Men’s class 6
Paul Karabardak started well against Ignacio Torres, taking the first set 11-5 and had chances to lead 2-0 but the world No 1 from Chile edged the second set 13-11 and secured a 3-1 win, 12-10 in the fourth. Karabardak again took the first set against world No 9 Samuel Altshuler and then fought back well to level at 2-2 after the Para Pan American Championships bronze medallist from the USA had taken sets two and three to lead 2-1. Altshuler took the deciding set 11-7 to win 3-2 and deny Karabardak a place in the knockout stages.
Martin Perry lost a tight first set to Matteo Parenzan 13-11 and after the world, Paralympic and European champion from Italy had taken the second to lead 2-0 Perry kept himself in the match by taking the third set 11-8 before Parenzan took the fourth 11-7 to win 3-1. Perry led 2-0 against Esteban Herrault but the two-time men’s doubles champion from France came back to level at 2-2 and took the deciding set 12-10 after saving two match points.
Men’s class 10
Shae Thakker played with great credit against Gabriel De Oliveira Antunes and after losing a close first set 11-9 he took the second 11-8 to level at 1-1 before the world No 4 and Para Pan American champion from Brazil took the next two sets 11-8 11-6 to win 3-1. Thakker then produced some great play that highlighted his potential despite losing in three close sets to Bunpot Sillapakong, the Para Asian Championship silver medallist from Thailand.
Women’s class 8
Grace Williams fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 against Florencia Perez but the world No 4 and Para Pan American silver medallist from Chile took the deciding set 11-9 to win 3-2. Williams never really got into the match against Huang Wenjuan and the Paralympic champion from China was a 3-0 winner. She ended on a high with a 3-1 win against Nina Reck, the world No 6 from Germany but finished third in the group and so did not progress.