GB squad does Gorazd proud with seven medals in France

October 28, 2025 | Francesca Bullock

Under the most difficult circumstances a 16-strong squad of British Para table tennis team athletes paid tribute to their late Performance Director, Gorazd Vecko MBE, who passed away last Friday, by competing in the ITTF World Para Elite Yvelines 2025 in France and showing the courage and determination that has become the hallmark of the team under the Slovenianâ€s inspiring and dynamic leadership.

Win or lose they fought for every point and, supported by the coaching team led by BPTT head coach Andrew Rushton, they won seven medals in the singles events, including gold for Fliss Pickard (womenâ€s class 6, pictured above), Rob Davies (menâ€s class 1) and Will Bayley (menâ€s class 7) and bronze for Bly Twomey (womenâ€s class 7), Paul Karabardak (menâ€s class 6), Aaron McKibbin (menâ€s class 8) and Joshua Stacey (menâ€s class 9).

BPTT Programme Manager Shaun Marples said: “What the team has managed to do these past few days since hearing that Gorazd had passed away and wanting to battle in his honour, I think it really demonstrates the strong family culture that Gorazd instilled within this team over a number of years.

“It is with great pride that everyone has put on their GB shirt and gone out there and done just what theyâ€ve done for Gorazd with some excellent performances and some great gold medals and bronze medals.

“But it was bigger than hitting a ball on the table. It was about doing it for Gorazd. I know people will be emotionally drained from the tournament and understandably so but, overall, they can hold their heads high and think ‘we did that for you G†and as a massive thank you and out of the love and respect for what heâ€s done for the programme.

“The whole team back in the UK is extremely proud of every single individual who has been in France – it couldnâ€t have been easy talking to all the other countries who are also grieving, and all have amazing, positive memories of Gorazd.

“Weâ€ve done ourselves proud and I know Gorazd would have been equally proud of the team. This is the start of the GB force battling in Gorazdâ€s honour and continuing his legacy for years and years to come.â€

Womenâ€s class 6

Fliss Pickard was a 3-0 winner against Kinga Mihalffy from Hungary and then recovered from losing the first set to beat Barbara Jablonka from Poland 3-1.

As group winner she received a bye into the semi-finals where she produced a typically gutsy performance to beat Katarzyna Marszal, the world and European silver medallist from Poland, 3-2, 12-10 in the deciding set.

Pickard had to dig deep again in the final against Gulmira Gonobina, which also went the distance. After losing a tight first set 12-10 she edged the second and third sets 14-12 and secured the gold 12-10 in the fifth after the 36-year-old Russian had levelled at 2-2.

Menâ€s class 1

Rob Davies won 3-1 against former European team silver medallist Alan Papirer from France and then recovered from losing the first set to beat Paralympic bronze medallist and world No 5 Federico Falco from Italy 3-1. He secured top position in his group and a bye into the semi-finals with a 3-0 win against Sylvio Keller, the former European bronze medallist from Switzerland and, after dropping the first set he came back to defeat Dmitrii Lavrov, the former two-time European bronze medallist from Russia 3-1.

Davies found himself 1-0 down again in the final against Timo Natunen but fought back in typical fashion to take the second 12-10 and went on to take the third and fourth sets 11-9 to beat the world No 7 from Finland 3-1.

After leading 2-0, fellow Welshman Tom Matthews showed all his fight and determination to come through 3-2 against Adam Urlauber after the world No 18 from Hungary had levelled the match at 2-2. Matthews lost 3-0 to Timo Natunen but kept his hopes alive with a 3-0 win against Antreas Aravis from Cyprus. He was unlucky to lose out on a place in the quarter-finals on countback.

Menâ€s class 7

Will Bayley secured his place in the knockout stages as group winner with a 3-0 win against former Paralympic champion Stephane Messi from France and a 3-0 win against two-time European champion Jean Paul Montanus from Netherlands.

He beat world No 4 Krizander Magnussen from Norway 3-1 in the quarter-final and won his semi-final 3-1 against world No 8 Jonas Hansson from Sweden before securing his fifth consecutive singles gold medal of the year by defeating Bjoern Schnake, the world No 7 and European bronze medallist from Germany 3-0 in the final.

Theo Bishop was drawn in a tough group, and he did not progress after losing 3-0 to Jonas Hansson, 3-0 to European bronze medallist Kevin Dourbecker from France and 3-2 to the Russian world No 6 Maksim Nazarkin.

Menâ€s class 2

Chris Ryan lost a very tight match to world No 8 Daniel Rodriguez from Spain 12-10 in the fifth set and again lost nothing in a 3-2 defeat to the very experienced Frenchman Julien Michaud, 11-9 in the deciding set.

He produced a great performance to beat world No 9 Jiri Suchanek from Czechia 3-0 and progress to the quarter-finals where he took the first set against world champion Fabien Lamirault before the world No 3 from France secured a hard-fought 3-1 win.

Menâ€s class 4-5

Jack Hunter-Spivey was a 3-0 winner against Krszysztof Zylka from Poland and was then beaten in four close sets by class 4 world silver medallist Maxime Thomas from France. He progressed as group winner with a 3-0 win against Peter Mihalik from Slovakia and led 2-0 in his last 16 match against world No 5 Carlos Freire De Moraes before the Brazilian came back to win 3-2.

Menâ€s class 6

Paul Karabardak was a 3-0 winner against the American teenager Samuel Altshuler and then came through against Benedikt Muller 11-9 in the fifth after the German had twice come back to level.

He fought back after dropping the first set to beat Georgios Mouchthis from Greece 3-1 in the quarter-final and led two-time world and Paralympic champion Peter Rosenmeier 2-1 in their semi-final but was just edged out 3-2 by the world No 4 from Denmark.

Martin Perry lost in five sets to Rafal Kraft from Poland but then bounced back to beat world No 8 Esteban Herrault from France 3-0. He had his chances in the quarter-final against Samuel Altshuler, but the American took the match 3-2, 11-9 in the fifth.

Menâ€s class 8

World No 1 Aaron McKibbin was a 3-0 winner against Alejandro Diaz from Spain and then beat Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medallist Maksym Nikolenko from Ukraine 3-1. He won his quarter-final against world No 4 Piotr Grudzien from Poland 3-1 and twice came back to level in his semi-final against 19-year-old Borna Zohil but the world No 6 from Croatia took the deciding set for a 3-2 win.

Billy Shilton won 3-0 against Hamza Taleb from Belgium and then came through a tough battle against Piotr Grudzien 3-2. He again showed all his fighting spirit to come back from 2-1 down and beat Nicklas Westerberg from Sweden 12-10 in the deciding set before losing his quarter-final to Nikolenko 3-1.

Ryan Henry was drawn in a difficult group but played with great credit despite losing 3-1 to world No 5 Clement Berthier from France, 3-2 to Marcin Zielinski from Poland and 3-1 to Borna Zohil.

Menâ€s class 9

Joshua Stacey came through a tricky match against the German Jan Reinig 3-2 and then recovered from dropping the first set against Lev Kats to beat the world No 10 from Ukraine 3-1. He progressed as group winner after a 3-0 win against Francis Chukwuemeka from Nigeria and was a 3-0 winner in the quarter-final against another Ukrainian Ivan Mai.

The Welshman had to settle for bronze after losing his semi-final to world No 1 Ander Cepas from Spain 3-1.

Womenâ€s class 4-5

Class 4 Megan Shackleton lost 3-0 to the class 5 world No 1 Alexandra Saint-Pierre from France and showed all her character to beat class 4 world No 4 Irem Oluk from Turkey 3-2.

Shackleton then produced a brilliant performance to fight back from 2-0 down and beat the class 4 world No 2 and Paris 2024 Paralympic champion Sandra Mikolaschek from Germany 3-2, 11-4 in the fifth and was unlucky not to progress to the knockout stages on countback.

Womenâ€s class 7

Bly Twomey was a 3-0 winner against Smilla Sand from Sweden and led world No 2 Kubra Korkut 2-0 before the world and European champion from Turkey came back to win 3-2.

Twomey progressed to the semi-finals with a 3-0 win against Jenny Slettum from Norway and took the first set against world No 1 Kelly Van Zon before the four-time Paralympic champion from the Netherlands used all her experience to secure a 3-1 win.

Womenâ€s class 8

Grace Williams lost 3-0 to world No 1 Sophia Kelmer from Brazil and then fought back superbly from 8-4 down in the deciding set to beat Elena Elli from Italy 3-2.

She had her chances against Juliane Wolf in the quarter-final, but the German world No 5 and Paris 2024 bronze medallist edged the third set after Williams had led 9-3 which proved to be crucial in a 3-1 win.

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