The ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo in Poland this week (March 11-14) and the ITTF World Para Challenger Lignano in Italy (March 18-21) mark the start of the 2026 season for the British Para table tennis team that will culminate in the ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships in Thailand in November.
The team is still coming to terms with the loss of its inspirational Performance Director Gorazd Vecko, who passed away unexpectedly in October last year, but showed the passion and fighting qualities he epitomised by taking 15 medals at the European Championships in Sweden a month later.
“I think the players have had some time to digest and take stock of what happened last year,” said BPTT head coach Andrew Rushton (pictured above with Bly Twomey). “Obviously it was a really tough year for everyone but the resilience they’ve shown has been brilliant.
“It’s been a good winter training so I’m happy with where they’re at and what they’re doing considering it’s going to be the first tournament of the year in Poland. I think it’s going to be a good test and a good marker for the year ahead.
“We’ve got a few athletes going to Poland and the majority of the Performance squad will be going to Italy. We’ve really worked hard over the winter on the doubles combinations – who plays with who and how that works – so we want to see how that progresses. We’ve got some new combinations and some more established ones, and we want to see how those progress as well as where the athletes are at in the singles.
“We’re in the qualification period now for the World Championships so every tournament is important and we just want to make sure we do our best and give our best for each other.”
The full British squad for the ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo (March 11-14) is: Ryan Henry (class 8), Martin Perry (class 6), Felicity Pickard (class 6), Chris Ryan (class 2), Billy Shilton (class 8), Shae Thakker (class 10), Grace Williams (class 8).
The full British squad for the ITTF World Para Challenger Lignano, Italy (March 18-21) is: Theo Bishop (class 7), Rob Davies (class 1), Jack Hunter-Spivey (class 5), Tom Matthews (class 1), Aaron McKibbin (class 8), Chris Ryan (class 2), Felicity Pickard (class 6), Neil Robinson (class 3), Megan Shackleton (class 4), Billy Shilton (class 8), Joshua Stacey (class 9), Daniel Thomson (class 6), Bly Twomey (class 7).