Dumbarton's Martin Perry full of confidence after Greek Open success

Dumbarton’s Martin Perry says he’ll head to the World Para-Table Tennis Championships next month full of confidence after a sparkling Greek Open.

Martin only lost to top seed Matteo Parenzan in Kefalonia, while he and partner Billy Shilton took a dominant victory in the doubles tournament - where they didn’t drop a single set.

And it sets the Dumbarton man up nicely for the World Championships in Granada which get underway on November 6.

Martin, who has a condition known as congenital limb loss and deformity which resulted in him being born with no hands and only one leg, received a wildcard for the World Championships last month - having narrowly missed out on automatic qualification.

And with under a month until the Worlds, he admits the Greek event was perfect preparation.

Martin told the Lennox: “In table tennis if you don’t adapt quickly then you’ll be found out.

“I got off to a good start winning my first group match 3-0. I had the number one seed, Matteo, in the next match and I got humbled a little bit. Thankfully I won the next match 3-0.

“In the semi-final I didn’t get off to the best start, I was 1-0 down, but thinking I wasn’t doing much wrong. I changed a couple of things to get a foothold in the match, and straight away we had a monster second set. I managed to win 19-17.

“That time I won the second set and, if I’m honest, I should’ve won the third set as well. I had a sizable lead which I squandered. That was tough to take after having such a strong foothold.

“But I was still really happy with my singles performance. The only person I lost to was the number one seed and to get a silver medal when I was fourth seed was really nice.

“To come away with a silver and a gold medal is great for the confidence