McKibbin through to quarterfinal but Shilton misses out

Aaron McKibbin came through a tense five-set match against Slovakian former World number one Richard Csejtey to reach the quarterfinals of men’s class 8 but there was heartbreak for Billy Shilton who went out after a 3-1 loss to Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri from Thailand.

Coming into today’s match McKibbin had won only five of his 23 matches against Csejtey but had won their last meeting in Slovenia in 2019 in five sets.

After a slow start he recovered from 6-2 down in the first set to take it 11-8 but the former World champion and London 2012 silver medallist at 45-years-old is still a tough competitor and he came back to take the second 11-7. Momentum swung one way then another in the third with McKibbin fighting back from 7-2 down to lead 10-7 then saving a set point at 11-10 down before clinching the set 13-11 with a good serve that drew an error from the Slovakian.

He looked to have taken the initiative at 6-3 in the fourth, but Csejtey was not going away and he came back to win the set 11-9. A timeout call by GB coach Mat Kenny at 5-5 after McKibbin had led 5-2 proved to be well-timed and the 33-year-old Epsom-based Londoner went on to take the deciding set 11-8 and the match 3-2.

“I’m very happy to get the win,” said McKibbin. “He’s a very experienced player and towards the end of the season he’s had a few big wins, so he’s been playing well and I found myself a bit stuck in the game. I felt so calm going into it - I warmed up so good and it’s the best I’ve felt in a while, and I really felt I was going to go in there and play some top stuff. Maybe it was a little bit the situation - I just couldn’t find my rhythm and I think the best thing I did was use my experience and I accepted quite early on that I’m not playing well here, and I need to just graft and find a way to win. Mix things up and keep moving him around and I think those sets where I was down, and I fought back to win that was what got me over the line.

“You can see in the earlier rounds some top players have already lost and the same happened in doubles – Josh (Stacey) and I had a bit of a setback in doubles – it’s the Paralympic Games and everyone is coming here with the aim to play their best table tennis. No game is going to be easy and I 100% didn’t take him lightly but I’m just glad I came through in the end because I really wasn’t impressed with my performance. I was impressed with my mentality to be able to find a way through when I’m not playing well, and I think that is going to stand me in good stead in the next round and I’m definitely going to have to up my game for the next one.”

McKibbin will take on the three-time Paralympic champion Zhao Shuai from China in the quarterfinal on Wednesday.

Billy Shilton had beaten Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri in straight sets when they met in Slovenia in May but he couldn’t find his best form today against the World number 13 from Thailand.

Shilton led 9-7 in the first set before Wangphonphathanasiri edged it 13-11 but he came straight back to take the second 11-4 to level at 1-1. From that point the Asian Para Games bronze medallist was the more consistent and he took the third set 11-8 and although Shilton saved three match points Wangphonphathanasiri took a time out before sealing victory 11-5 in the fourth.

“I think it was a combination of me making loads of mistakes and him not missing anything really,” said a disconsolate Shilton. “It definitely wasn’t my best performance, and I’m absolutely devastated to lose like that – it’s very hard when you feel that you haven’t given your best and you’ve lost. If I’d played as good as I could have done and lost then you can kind of accept it so it’s a tough one to take.

“It was nice to take a medal in doubles and I’m really happy with that, but my head was fully focused on singles after yesterday and it’s obviously not gone the way I wanted today, and I need to get back in the (training) hall and work on all the things that went wrong today.”