Megan Shackleton
Date and place of birth: 21/03/1999, Halifax
Home town: Todmorden
Lives: Sheffield
TT Class: 4
Current world ranking: 8
International debut: 2013, Belgium Open
Megan’s story:
Megan’s sporting ambitions were originally focused on competing in the Olympics as a swimmer until she fractured her spine in a machinery–related accident which left her in a wheelchair at the age of nine. Although she returned to the pool after her accident, winning medals in National Championships, she started playing table tennis at the age of 12 at a Playground to Podium event in Leeds and the sport provided her with the new challenge that she was looking for.
“I had swum competitively from the age of five and played tennis,” she says, “so I’ve always enjoyed sport. I met a table tennis coach Shaun Alvey at the Playground to Podium event and he persuaded me to come along to his club Albert Premier TTC regularly and I soon fell in love with the sport.”
Megan joined the BPTT Pathway Squad in 2013, moving into the Performance Squad in April 2014.
She made her major championship debut in the European Championships in Denmark in 2015 where she took a bronze medal in the women's class 4-5 team event with Sue Gilroy and although not part of the ParalympicsGB squad that went to Rio 2016 she gained a lot of experience from watching the other players preparing for a Paralympic Games.
The following year Megan and Sue Gilroy took bronze in the World Team Championships in Slovakia and later in the year Megan reached the quarterfinals of the women’s class 4-5 singles, losing to the World number one and Paralympic champion Borislava Peric-Rankovic from Serbia. She reached the quarterfinals at the World Championships in 2018 and in 2019 she broke into the top ten in her class for the first time. Having achieved automatic qualification for Tokyo Megan made her Paralympic debut in 2021 and in the women’s class 4 singles she was unlucky to be drawn in a group with the two-time Paralympic and World champion Zhou Ying from China and the World number 12 from India Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel who both went on to contest the final. However, in the women’s class 4-5 team event she played a superb match to beat the class 5 World number two Khetam Abuawad 3-1 as she and Sue Bailey (Gilroy) beat Jordan 2-1 to secure a bronze medal.
“Coming back from what I felt was a slightly disappointing singles where I’d like to have progressed a bit further,” said Megan, “I felt that I managed to play a better level in the team event and I’m really pushing some of the top guys now so to take a medal at my first Games is an incredible feeling. I’ve imagined myself on the podium and representing GB at the Paralympics since I was very young so to finally make that dream a reality is a surreal feeling.”
Having missed the World Championships in 2022 due to injury she just missed out on a singles medal at the European Championships in Sheffield in 2023, losing a very close quarterfinal match to World number eight Irem Oluk from Turkey, but combined with Jack Hunter-Spivey to take silver in the class 10 mixed doubles.
“I always enjoy playing with Jack and I think he manages to get the best out of me,” said Megan. “Coming back from a heart-breaking loss in the singles it’s nice to take a medal in the doubles. I’m proud of myself – it’s my first major after Tokyo and obviously having a tough year I think I’ve shown myself that I can get stuck in when the moments are difficult, and I think that is something that will follow me through for the rest of my career.”
Megan started 2024 by taking gold in the women’s class 4 singles in the USA, Brazil and Kazakhstan. A further gold medal in Poland was not enough to secure qualification for Paris on her world ranking but after reaching the semi-finals of the Paralympic World Qualification Tournament in Thailand she was awarded a wild card by the IPC to compete in Paris.
She came heartbreakingly close to taking her first Paralympic singles medal, losing 3-2 in the quarterfinals to World number one Borislava Peric-Rankovic.
“I’m really proud of myself,” said Megan, “coming into this after two years of recovering from injury and struggling to find my form, then having a fantastic season winning lots of tournaments and finally getting myself to Paris, getting to the quarterfinals and taking on one of the best in the world. I played really well and I have no regrets. Obviously, it’s extremely gutting not to get the medal and at the end of the day that’s what we all play for. I believe I’ve got plenty left in me and hopefully things are only going to get better.
“I really believe in myself and even here I kind of believed I was a contender for a medal, and I think I did show that despite the outcome. The girls are all fantastic and I think there’ll be some really tough matches in LA as well but I’m going to keep working hard and keep pushing my game on and hopefully it will be a gold in LA.”
Megan now combines her table tennis with studying for a degree in English Literature at the University of Sheffield.
2025 Results:
World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo, Poland – QF (withdrew), women’s singles (class 1-5); bronze, women’s doubles (class 5-10); silver, mixed doubles (class 10)
2024 Results:
Paralympic Games, Paris – QF, women’s singles (class 4); L16, mixed doubles (class 7)
Czech Open – silver, women’s singles (class 4-5); bronze, mixed doubles (class 7)
Paralympic World Qualification Tournament, Thailand – bronze, women’s singles (class 4)
Slovenia Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4); group stages, women’s doubles (class 10); group stages, mixed doubles (class 7)
Polish Open – gold, women’s singles (class 4); group stages, women’s doubles (class 10)
Lignano Masters Para Open, Italy – QF, women’s singles (class 4); gold, women’s doubles (class 5-10)
Astana Para Open, Kazakhstan – gold, women’s singles (class 4); silver, women’s doubles (class 5-10)
Brazil Open – gold, women’s singles (class 4-5); silver, women’s doubles (class 5-10); bronze, mixed doubles (class 4-7)
US Open – gold, women’s singles (class 1-5); silver, women’s doubles (class 10); silver, mixed doubles (class 10)
2023 Results:
European Championships, Sheffield, UK – QF, women’s singles (class 4); silver, mixed doubles (class 10)
Slovenia Open – QF, women’s singles (class 4); group stages, women’s doubles (class 10); bronze, mixed doubles (class 10)
Montenegro Para Championships – group stages, women’s singles (class 4); bronze, women’s doubles (class 10)
Lignano Masters Open, Italy – group stages, women’s singles (class 4); bronze, mixed doubles (class 10)
2022 Results:
Greek Open – silver, women’s singles (class 3-5); silver, women’s doubles (class 5-10); 3rd, mixed doubles (class 10)
2021 Results:
Paralympic Games, Tokyo – bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4)
2020 Results:
Costa Brava Spanish Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4-5); bronze, women’s teams (class 2-5)
Polish Open – group stages, women’s singles (class 4-5); bronze, women’s teams (class 2-5)
2019 Results:
China Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4); 4th, women’s teams (class 4-5 RR)
European Championships, Sweden – bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); QF, women’s singles (class 4-5)
Czech Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4); bronze, women’s teams (class 4)
Japan Open – silver, women’s singles (class 4); 4th women’s teams (class 2-5 RR)
Polish Open – group stages, women’s singles (class 4); 3rd, women’s teams (class 4-5 RR)
Slovenia Open – L16, women’s singles (class 4); bronze, women’s teams (class 4)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – bronze, women’s singles (class 4); group stages, women’s teams (class 4-5)
2018 Results:
World Championships, Slovenia – QF, women’s singles (class 4)
Czech Open – gold, women’s singles (class 4); QF women’s teams (class 2-5)
Slovenian Open – L16 women’s singles (class 4-5); QF women’s singles (class 4-5)
Slovakia Open – silver, women’s teams (class 4-5); QF women’s singles (class 4-5)
Lignano Master Open, Italy – bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4-5)
2017 Results:
Spanish Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4)
Belgian Open – silver, women’s teams (class 1-5); bronze, women’s singles (class 4-5)
European Championships, Lasko, Slovenia – QF, women’s singles (class 4-5); 5th women’s teams (class 4-5RR)
Bayreuth Open, Germany – silver, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4)
World Team Championships, Slovakia – bronze, women’s class 4-5
Slovenia Open – bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); QF, women’s singles (class 4-5)
2016 Results:
Romania Open - bronze, women’s singles (class 4-5); bronze, women’s teams (class 3-5)
Slovenia Open - bronze, women’s teams (class 4); group stages, women’s singles (class 4)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4-5)
2015 Results:
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4-5)
Czech Open - silver, women’s singles (class 4-5); silver, women’s teams (class 4-5)
Bayreuth Open, Germany - bronze, women’s teams (class 4); group stages, women’s singles (class 4)
Slovenia Open - silver, women’s teams (class 4); group stages, women’s singles (class 4)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, women’s singles (class 4-5); 4th women’s teams (class 4-5)
Hungarian Open - gold, women’s singles (class 4-5); silver, women’s teams (class 1-5)
2014 Results:
Cote d’Azur International, France - gold, women’s singles (class 4-5); gold, women’s teams (class 4-5)
Romania International Open - bronze, women’s singles (class 2-5)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - silver, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4-5)
National Championships - Winner, Junior Class 1-5 singles; Junior Player of the Tournament
Career Highlights:
2023: European Championships, Sheffield, UK – QF, women’s singles (class 4); silver, mixed doubles (class 10)
2021: Paralympic Games, Tokyo – bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); group stages, women’s singles (class 4)
2019: China Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4)
European Championships, Sweden – bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5); QF, women’s singles (class 4-5)
Czech Open – bronze, women’s singles (class 4)
Japan Open – silver, women’s singles (class 4)
2018: World Championships, Slovenia – QF, women’s singles (class 4)
Czech Open – gold, women’s singles (class 4)
2017: World Team Championships, Slovakia – bronze, women’s class 4-5
2015: European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - bronze, women’s teams (class 4-5)
Czech Open - silver, women’s singles (class 4-5); silver, women’s teams (class 4-5)
Slovenia Open - silver, women’s teams (class 4)
Hungarian Open - gold, women’s singles (class 4-5); silver, women’s teams (class 1-5)
2014: Cote d’Azur International, France - gold, women’s singles (class 4-5); gold, women’s teams (class 4-5)
Romania International Open - bronze, women’s singles (class 2-5)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - silver, women’s teams (class 4-5)
National Championships - Winner, Junior Class 1-5 singles; Junior Player of the Tournament