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Table tennis stars warm up for international season at national championships

World number one Rob Davies and Paralympic silver medalist Will Bayley will be among the members of the GB Para Table Tennis Team taking part in The Butterfly Michael Hawkesworth Championships at Grantham Meres Leisure Centre this weekend (March 15-16).

This competition is also the BTTAD National Championships and represents an opportunity for young, up-and-coming players to compete against the best in the UK.

Current England number one and four times national women’s singles champion, Kelly Sibley will help present the medals and trophies to winners at the centre on March 16.

As well as providing valuable match practice for the GB athletes ahead of the start of the international season it is a competition they all want to win.

Brecon’s Rob Davies, who took gold in the European Championships last year, will be hoping to retain his national title in the men’s class 1-2 event.

Although his great friend and team mate Paul Davies, who he beat in the final last year, will not be competing due to injury he will face strong competition from another Welshman, Tom Matthews, a member of the GB Pathway Squad who took a silver medal in the men’s class 1 event at the US Open last year.

Sheffield based Bayley, from Tunbridge Wells, is defending his title in the men’s class 6-7 championship and also finished runner-up to Aaron McKibbin in the men’s class 6-10 open championship last year. He said:

“My main priority is to win the class 7 title again. It would be my seventh in a row if I win it and I can then enjoy the open event on Sunday and get as far as I can. I’ve never won the open although I’ve been in the final several times."

Londoner McKibbin, who is also based with the GB Team at the EIS in Sheffield, won the men’s class 8 national title as well as the open class 6-10 championship last year and is looking forward to defending both titles.

One of the favourites for the men’s class 6-10 open championship will be Leeds medical student and former winner Kim Daybell, a class 10 player who represented GB in the London 2012 Paralympics and last year’s European Championships.

He won the men’s class 9-10 title last year but did not compete in the open event.

Torpoint’s David Wetherill was runner-up to Bayley in the men’s class 6-7 event last year and is another who is looking forward to kick-starting his season with a good performance in Grantham. He said:

“The Nationals is an important event and if I can win a national title it will mean a lot. I’m not expecting to win the open but on my day I’m capable of causing a few upsets. I’m playing really well at the moment and beating highly ranked players in training so I’m really looking forward to playing in the Nationals and seeing what happens.”