Billy Shilton
Date and place of birth: 09/10/1998, Gloucester
Home town: Stonehouse
Lives: Sheffield
TT Class: 8
Current world ranking: 4
International debut: 2013, Belgian Open
Major titles: World doubles champion (class 14) 2022
Billy’s story:
Having been diagnosed at the age of five with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT), a group of inherited conditions that damage nerves outside the brain and spine, Billy started playing table tennis at the age of 12 after watching his dad Michael play in a local league tournament.
“I used to play football before the problems with my legs got worse and I couldn’t play anymore,” he recalls. “I find it difficult to move around and in terms of table tennis it affects my speed around the table, movement and power but I loved table tennis from day one. It is fast and exciting and you really have to concentrate.”
After playing the local league Billy was spotted by the GB Para squad at the UK School Games in 2012 and made a major impact at the European Championships in 2015 at the age of 16, taking bronze in the men’s class 7 singles and silver with Will Bayley in the men’s class 7 team event.
Following this he was reclassified as a class 8 and missed out on qualification for the Paralympic Games in 2016 although he went to Rio as part of the ParalympicsGB Paralympics Inspiration Programme.
After winning team medals at the European Championships in 2017 and 2019 with Ross Wilson and Aaron McKibbin, Billy reached the semi-finals of the World Qualification Tournament in Slovenia in June 2021 and was subsequently awarded a wild card to compete in Tokyo. He more than justified that by producing some superb performances, coming from 2-1 down to beat the hugely experienced former World number one and Rio 2016 bronze medallist Piotr Grudzien from Poland to reach the quarterfinals of the men’s class 8 singles and then beating the Rio 2016 Paralympic silver medallist Andras Csonka to secure a bronze medal in the men’s class 8 team event.
“I’m really happy with how I’ve performed in singles and team events,” he said. “My expectations were to come and try and enjoy the experience and play the best I could and to come away with a medal is an amazing feeling. Losing in the quarterfinals and being one match away from a medal in the singles was really hard for me to take and I think I can use that as motivation.”
In 2022 Billy broke into the World’s top 10 in men’s class 8 with medal-winning performances in Spain, Czech Republic and Greece, and with team events replaced by doubles he proved himself to be one of the team's strongest doubles players with gold in the men's doubles at the Czech Open and Greek Open and gold in the mixed doubles in Greece. At the World Championships in Andalucia he won gold in the men’s class 14 doubles with Paul Karabardak and bronze in the mixed class 14 doubles with Fliss Pickard.
“The way Paul and I communicate with each other in a match is amazing,” said Billy after beating Thailand to take the gold, “and I honestly think that is one of the reasons why we are World champions. What a feeling - it is something I’ve thought about every day when I’m in the hall, something I wanted to do as a kid and to do it for the first time with Paul is so special.”
The European Championships in Sheffield in 2023 proved to be a frustrating tournament for Billy as he lost at the quarterfinal stage in the singles, doubles and mixed doubles. However, he came back in 2024 to take silver in the US Open and secured qualification for Paris by winning gold in the men's class 8 singles at the Costa Brava Spanish Open in March.
At the Paralympic Games he and Paul Karabardak took bronze in the men’s class 14 doubles but Billy was bitterly disappointed to lose his last 16 match in the men’s class 8 singles to Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri from Thailand.
“It definitely wasn’t my best performance,” he said, “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, and I need to get back in the (training) hall and work on all the things that went wrong today.”
2025 Results
World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo, Poland – gold, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s doubles (class 14)
Singapore Smash – silver, men’s singles (class 8)
2024 Results:
Paralympic Games, Paris – L16, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s doubles (class 14)
Czech Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (men’s class 14)
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s doubles (class 14)
Costa Brava Spanish Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8); group stages, men’s doubles (class 14)
Lignano Master Para Open, Italy – L16, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s doubles (class 14)
US Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s doubles (class 14)
2023 Results:
European Championships, Sheffield, UK – QF, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s doubles (class 14); QF, mixed doubles (class 14)
Czech Para Open – QF, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class 14)
Polish Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s doubles (class 18)
Slovenia Open – L16, men’s singles (class 8); L16, men’s doubles (class 14)
Lignano Masters Open, Italy – QF, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s doubles (class 14)
2022 Results:
World Championships, Spain – L16, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class 14); bronze, mixed doubles (class 14)
Greek Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class 14); gold, mixed doubles (class 14)
Czech Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class 14)
Slovenia Open – QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Costa Brava Spanish Open – bronze, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s doubles (class MS18)
2021 Results:
Paralympic Games, Tokyo – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
World Qualification Tournament, Slovenia – SF, men’s singles (class 8)
2020 Results:
Costa Brava Spanish Open – silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Polish Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); silver, men’s teams (class 8)
2019 Results:
China Open – QF, men’s singles (class 8); 4th, men’s teams RR (class 8)
Finland Open – silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
European Championships, Sweden – silver, men’s teams (class 8); group stages, men’s singles (class 8)
Czech Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s teams (class 8)
Bangkok Open, Thailand – silver, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
Japan Open – silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Polish Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); L16, men’s singles (class 8)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – silver, men’s teams (class 8); L16 men’s singles (class 8)
2018 Results:
Spanish Open – QF, men’s singles (class 8); bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovenian Open – QF, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovakia Open – silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF men’s singles (class 8)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – bronze, men’s team (class 8); QF men’s singles (class 8)
2017 Results:
Spanish Open – silver, men’s teams (class 8); bronze, men’s singles (class 8)
Belgium Open – gold, men’s teams (class 9); bronze, men’s singles (class 8)
European Championships, Lasko, Slovenia – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); L16 men’s singles (class 8)
Bayreuth Open, Germany – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
World Team Championships, Slovakia – 7th men’s class 8
Slovenia Open – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); last 16, men’s singles (class 8)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – last 16, men’s singles (class 8)
2016 Results:
US Open, Las Vegas - silver, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
Romania International Open - QF, men’s singles (class 8); 4th, men’s RR team (class 9)
Romania Junior Open - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
PTT Spanish Open - QF, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovakia Open - last 16, men’s singles (class 8); QF, men’s teams (class 8)
Slovenia Open - last 16, men’s singles (class 8); group stages, men’s teams (class 8)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, men’s singles (class 8); group stages, men’s singles (class 8)
2015 Results:
Copa Costa Rica - bronze, men’s singles (class 8)
China Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 8-10); group stages, men’s singles (class 8)
Belgian Open - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - bronze, men’s singles (class 7); silver, men’s teams (class 7)
Czech Open - bronze, men’s singles (class 7); bronze, men’s teams (class 6-7)
Bayreuth Open, Germany - silver, men’s teams (class 7); group stages, men’s singles (class 7)
Slovenia Open - gold, men’s teams (class 7); last 16 men’s singles (class 7)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, men’s singles (class 7); QF men’s teams (class 7)
Hungarian Open - gold, men’s teams (class 6-7); bronze, men’s singles (class 7)
2014 Results:
Cote d’Azur International, France - gold, men’s teams (class 7); QF men’s singles (class 7)
Spanish Open - bronze, men’s singles (class 7); silver, men’s teams (class 6-7)
Romania Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 6-7)
Slovenia Open - gold, men’s teams (class 7); group stages, men’s singles (class 7)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, men’s singles (class 7); group stages, men’s teams (class 6-7)
Career Highlights:
2024: Costa Brava Spanish Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8)
2022: World Championships, Spain – gold, men’s doubles (class 14); bronze, mixed doubles (class 14)
Greek Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class 14); gold, mixed doubles (class 14)
Czech Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s doubles (class 14)
2021: Paralympic Games, Tokyo – bronze, men’s teams (class 8); QF, men’s singles (class 8)
2019: European Championships, Sweden – silver, men’s teams (class 8)
Czech Open – gold, men’s singles (class 8)
Bangkok Open, Thailand – silver, men’s singles (class 8)
Polish Open – silver, men’s singles (class 8); gold, men’s teams (class 8)
2017: Belgium Open – gold, men’s teams (class 9)
European Championships, Lasko, Slovenia – bronze, men’s teams (class 8)
2016: US Open, Las Vegas - silver, men’s teams (class 8)
Romania Junior Open - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
2015: Belgian Open - gold, men’s singles (class 8)
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - bronze, men’s singles (class 7); silver, men’s teams (class 7)
Bayreuth Open, Germany - silver, men’s teams (class 7)
Slovenia Open - gold, men’s teams (class 7)
Hungarian Open - gold, men’s teams (class 6-7); bronze, men’s singles (class 7)
2014: Cote d’Azur International, France - gold, men’s teams (class 7); QF men’s singles (class 7)
Spanish Open - bronze, men’s singles (class 7); silver, men’s teams (class 6-7)
Slovenia Open - gold, men’s teams (class 7)