by Ian Marshall, ITTF Publications Manager

It was for Kim Daybell a very unusual situation; he faced Josh Stacey of Wales.

Usually, Kim Daybell and Josh Stacey are team mates because in Para Table Tennis they represent Great Britain which basically includes England, Scotland and Wales; to be precise it the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In a hard fought contest Kim Daybell emerged successful in a full distance five games duel (7-11, 11-9, 12-10, 6-11, 11-6).

“It was hard to play Josh; it’s been a busy time recently, three weeks ago I was playing in Italy. In Para Table Tennis it is not usual to play against a colleague; there are so many different classes. Today Josh played well, he is an up an coming player.” Kim Daybell

Currently Kim Daybell has to balance education with high level sport. Presently he is at Leeds University; in July he will qualify as a doctor.

“At the moment I’m no.5 in the world, so I hope to be in good shape with the World Championships approaching. I’ve not decided whether I’ll go into general practice but at first I intend to work pat-time; we have funding from UK Sport to support playing.” Kim Daybell

A hard fought win for Kim Daybell, for Ross Wilson it was success against a most worthy adversary in the guise of Australia’s Barak Mizrach; an impressive straight games win was the end result (11-4, 11-8, 11-5).

“He had the crowd behind him so that made it hard; I was a bit nervous before the match. It was my first match but I’ve now played in many international tournaments, so I have the experience of international events. My goal is to win a medal; that’s always the goal. Here in Australia, it’s an amazing country; the atmosphere in the hall is fantastic and the crowd was great.” Ross Wilson

There are two groups, each with four players, in Men’s Singles Class 6-10; to date each player has complete one match.