Draw made for World Para Table Tennis Championships
The draws have been made for the singles and doubles events at the ITTF World Para Table Tennis Championships that start on Friday at the Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall in Thailand. Twelve British athletes are competing against the strongest players from all over the world and will need to produce their best from the opening match as all competitions are played in a straight knockout format.
Men’s class 7 world champion and world number one Will Bayley has a bye through to the quarterfinals and will begin the defence of his title next week against either two-time Paralympic champion Yan Shuo from China or European champion Yannick Paredis from the Netherlands.
Women’s class 7 European champion Bly Twomey faces Kristel Morales Madriz from Costa Rica in the round of 16 and men’s class 1 European champion Rob Davies has a bye through to the quarterfinals where he will face either Riito Shikai from Japan or Kim Hakjin from the Republic of Korea while fellow Welshman Tom Matthews plays Antreas Aravis from Cyprus in the round of 16.
In men’s class 2 Chris Ryan faces Ahmed Elmahsy from Egypt in the round of 16; Jack Hunter-Spivey faces Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist Mitar Palikuca from Serbia in the men’s class 4-5 round of 32 and in men’s class 6 Martin Perry plays his opening round of 16 match against Samuel Altshuler from the USA.
Aaron McKibbin and Billy Shilton both received byes into the round of 16 in men’s class 8 where McKibbin will face Yehonatan Levi from Israel and Shilton will take on world number four Piotr Grudzien from Poland. In men’s class 9 Joshua Morizono (Stacey) will play the American former Paralympic champion Tahl Leibovitz in the round of 16; Fliss Pickard faces Morgen Caillaud from France in her opening round of 16 match in women’s class 6 while Grace Williams starts against the American world number two Mingyu Zu in the women’s class 8 round of 16.
The tournament starts with the doubles events where Billy Shilton and Fliss Pickard are both defending their world titles with new partners. Shilton and Martin Perry face the American pair of Ian Seidenfeld and Samuel Altshuler in the quarterfinals of men’s class 14 while in women’s class 14 Pickard and Bly Twomey face the Chinese pair of Wang Rui and Jiang Shan in the round of 16.
In men’s class 4 Tom Matthews and Chris Ryan have a bye through to the quarterfinals and will play either the Italian pair of Federico Crosara and Federico Falco or Ahmed Elmahsy and Marwan Ibrahim from Egypt. Rob Davies and Jack Hunter-Spivey face a tough opening match in men’s class 8 against European champions and Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medallists Valentin Baus and Thomas Schmidberger from Germany and in men’s class 18 Aaron McKibbin and Joshua Morizono play the Chilean pair of Manuel Echaveguren and Claudio Bahamondes in the round of 16.
In mixed class 14, Martin Perry and Grace Williams start against Krizander Magnussen and Nora Korneliussen from Norway while European champions Will Bayley and Bly Twomey have a bye into the round of 16 and face Maksym Nikolenko and Maryna Lytovchenko from Ukraine in their opening match.
“It’s been a great couple of days since we arrived in Pattaya on Monday,” said British Para Table Tennis Interim Performance Director Shaun Marples. “It was a good decision to come here a day early just to settle in and there is a great camaraderie amongst the team. Practice is going really well; we had a fun quiz last night and everybody in the team is in a good place and that is credit to the coaching team. It’s been a challenging year, but we are still getting up and going again. The draw has brought some juicy ties as it always does at a World Championships, but I know this team and trust that they will rise to the occasion and from the first point of the match, they will give it their all and fight to the end. So I think everyone is in a great place and looking forward to it all starting on Friday.”