Shilton takes gold in Finland
World doubles champion Billy Shilton took gold in the men’s class 8 singles at the ITTF World Para Future Lahti in Finland today and among the promising performances from some of the British Para Table Tennis Pathway athletes Jacob Wicks took bronze on his debut in men’s class 4-5 and Max Flint took bronze in men’s class 9-10.
Men’s class 8
Billy Shilton won 3-0 against 16-year-old Tomas Novotny from Czechia and then beat the European Paralympic Youth Games silver medallist from Italy Leonardo Coletta 3-0. He secured his place in the quarterfinals as group winner with a 3-0 win against Irish teenager Jude Sheldon and after edging a tight first set against Paul Van Der Oord 14-12 went on to beat the Dutchman 3-0. A 3-0 win against Marcin Zielinski, the European Paralympic Youth Games doubles champion from Poland took him through to the final where he faced world number 13 Emil Andersson, the European silver medallist and former Paralympic bronze medallist from Sweden. Shilton had won their most recent meeting in five sets and he started well, taking the first set 11-8 and then took the second 11-9 after a good timeout call from coach David McBeath at 10-8. Andersson fought back to lead 10-7 in the third, but Shilton levelled at 10-10 and after saving another set point, he clinched the set 13-11 and the match 3-0.
“I’m obviously really happy to take the gold without dropping a set, it’s a good feeling,” said Shilton. “I’ve felt really good in training over the last few weeks, and I think that showed today which is not easy to do so I’m really happy with that. The second set (in the final) was huge – I think I was 10-4 up and he started to change a few things and played really smart and it was a really good call from Dave to call a time out. This gives me a lot of confidence going into the next tournament in France and the World Championships that I can show this level so I’m really happy and on to the next one now.”
Ryan Henry was a 3-0 winner against Martin Printsmann from Estonia and was then beaten 3-1 by Marcin Zielinski. Henry progressed from his group with a 3-0 win against Kunal Arora from India and lost his quarterfinal against Emil Andersson 3-0.
Men’s class 4-5
Making his debut in class 4-5, former class 6 athlete Jacob Wicks came through a tough battle in his first match against Sumit Sehgal from India, taking the deciding set 11-9 after Sehgal had fought back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2. Wicks was a 3-0 winner against Daniel Weber from Switzerland and started well against Aurelio Zutterman, taking the first set 11-3. He had chances to take the second but the Belgian edged it 12-10 and went on to complete a 3-1 win.
Wicks progressed to the quarterfinals as group runner-up and showed great character and determination to beat 18-year-old Alexis Badie, the European Paralympic Youth Games champion from France in five sets. The Welshman had match points in the fourth set before losing it 13-11 but recovered from that disappointment to take the fifth 11-6 to win 3-2. That earned him a place in the semi-finals where he lost 3-1 to Yuma Aoki from Japan.
“I’m very pleased with how this tournament has gone,” said Wicks. “I feel that I’ve done myself proud by adapting positively to the big change from standing to wheelchair table tennis. I’ve been putting in a lot of work with the coaches prior to this tournament so I’m happy to see some of those improvements on the table. The thing I’m most pleased about was how I bounced back after a tough loss against Zutterman to beat Badie who is a very strong player – I feel that I was mentally strong to win that after losing match points in an earlier set.
“There is definitely a lot of work to do back in the training hall but it’s a strong start to life in class 5 and to be able to medal in my first tournament has exceeded my expectations. Overall, I’m happy with how I implemented tactics from the training hall into the matches here in Finland.”
Thomas Hepburn was beaten 3-0 by Alexis Badie but progressed to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win against Davide Carnevali from Italy. Hepburn took the second set 11-5 to level at 1-1 against Aurelio Zutterman but the Belgian took the third set 11-8 and secured a 3-1 win, 11-7 in the fourth.
Men’s class 9-10
Max Flint began with a 3-0 win against Matteo Viterbo from Belgium and then fought back from 2-1 down to level at 2-2 against Nithish Yoganand Suresh from India before taking the deciding set 11-8. Flint finished top of his group with a 3-0 win against 13-year-old Lucjan Swierta from Poland and won his quarterfinal against another Polish teenager Jan Dukalski, the European Paralympic Youth Games bronze medallist 3-0.
After losing the first set of his semi-final to Hitesh Dolwani from India he raced through the second set 11-1 and then recovered from 7-3 down in the third to take it 11-7. Dolwani, bronze medallist in the ITTF World Para Future Gold Coast earlier this year won the fourth 11-8 to level at 2-2 and then took the deciding set 11-6 to win 3-2.
“I was happy with my performance overall,” said Flint. “Lots of positives and also some things to take back to Sheffield and work on. I was happy to top my group as it was a really tricky match against Suresh and I felt that I learnt a lot from playing Dolwani and it was a much closer match than last time we played.”
Men’s class 1
Nathan Drayner edged a close fourth set 12-10 to level at 2-2 against Rakan Abdulrahman Alsalmi before the world number 11 from Saudi Arabia took the deciding set 11-8 to win 3-2. Drayner did not progress from his group after a 3-0 loss to Alan Papirer, the experienced world number 14 from France.
Men’s class 6
Dan Thomson lost his first match 3-0 to the Polish world number nine Piotr Manturz, gold medallist in the World Para Future Aktobe in Kazakhstan last month and did not progress after a 3-0 loss to Aaro Makela from Finland.
Men’s class 7
Bailey Page was beaten 3-0 by the number one seed from Ireland Patrick Vaughan, singles medallist in Poland, Czechia and the USA this year and did not progress after losing 3-1 to Hadar Bahat from Israel.
Women’s class 2-5
On her international debut Bethany Kelf was beaten 3-0 by Mie Fukazawa from Japan and then competed well against Deepikarani Ramanathan, taking a marathon third set 18-16 before the class 2 world number 18 from India took the fourth set to complete a 3-1 win. Kelf did not progress from her group after a 3-0 loss to class 3 world number four Sonalben Patel, the Para Asian Championships bronze medallist from India.
The full British squad for the ITTF World Para Future Lahti 2026 is:
Nathan Drayner, 33, Bolsover (class 1)
Max Flint, 21, Guildford/Loughborough (class 10)
Ryan Henry, 25, Ardrossan/Sheffield (class 8)
Thomas Hepburn, 21, Weymouth (class 5)
Bethany Kelf, 27, Norwich (class 3)
Bailey Page, 19, Plymouth (class 7)
Billy Shilton, 26, Stonehouse (Gloucester)/Sheffield (class 8)
Daniel Thomson, 21, Brighton/Sheffield (class 6)
Jacob Wicks, 21, Cwmbran/Sheffield (class 5)