Seven British athletes hoping to secure Paralympic qualification in Thailand
Tokyo medallists Jack Hunter-Spivey, Tom Matthews, Megan Shackleton and Ross Wilson are included in a squad of seven British Para table tennis athletes hoping to secure their ticket to Paris in the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament taking place in Pattaya, Thailand this week (May 23-25).
They will be joined by European silver medallist and World doubles champion Grace Williams and Confirmation athletes Theo Bishop and Chris Ryan.
This is the final opportunity for athletes to qualify for this summer’s Paralympic Games with class winners earning a qualification place for the tournament in Paris.
Hunter-Spivey will be hoping to repeat his win in the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament for Tokyo after which he went on to take bronze in the men’s class 5 singles. The tournament will be a new experience for Matthews, Shackleton and Wilson who all just missed out on qualification on their world ranking. Williams and Bishop will be bidding to qualify for their first Paralympic Games and Ryan his first as a table tennis athlete having led the GB wheelchair rugby team to gold in Tokyo.
“Competition will be extremely tough,” said BPTT Performance Director Gorazd Vecko, “with only class winners qualifying for Paris. Paralympic qualification has been harder than ever this time and Jack, Tom, Megan and Ross are all Paralympic medallists and top 10 in their class but just missed out on automatic qualification. Grace has shown that she can compete with the best at the major events and Theo and Chris deserve the chance to try and qualify having made great progress over the last 12 months.”
The British squad for the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament is:
Theo Bishop, 20, Rossendale/Sheffield – class 7
Jack Hunter-Spivey, 29, Liverpool/Sheffield – class 5
Tom Matthews, 31, Aberdare – class 1
Chris Ryan, 32, Welwyn Garden City – class 2
Megan Shackleton, 24, Todmorden/Sheffield – class 4
Grace Williams, 21, Llanfyllin/Sheffield – class 8
Ross Wilson, 28, Minster/Sheffield – class 9