Table tennis gold for Tunbridge Wells' paralympian Will Bayley

Kent paralympic star Will Bayley has won gold in Slovenia.

The table tennis player from Tunbridge Wells clinched the men's class 7 singles title at the Slovenia Para Open in Lasko yesterday (Saturday).

He tweeted with delight last night: "Gold in Slovenia.

"I couldn’t achieve this without support from my coaches, teammates,family, club @BTTCOfficial and sponsors ! Big love ❤️"

He added: "Massive shout out to @watesgroup who are supporting me in such a way it’s transformed my training and given my the opportunity to fight."

The 33-year-old is the most successful British paralympic table tennis player in recent times with a stash of seven medals. He took two silvers in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Paralympics last September.

This was his first international since then, winning the men's class 7 singles title at the Slovenia Para Open in Lasko on Saturday. The 13 Brits, who included Ross Wilson, 26, from Minster, Sheppey, were up against all the leading nations except China.

Bayley reached the final against Chalermpong Punpoo of Thailand after beating Spain's Jordie Morales in a tough semi-final.

The pair had last clashed in the Asian Championships where Bayley won in three close sets.

Punpoo went into an early lead with a 7-2 advantage in the first set but Bayley fought back winning seven consecutive points to clinch the set 11-9. He won the second set 11-5 and the third 11-5 for a 3-0 win.

Afterwards, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant admitted: "I started pretty slowly but I have to give credit to him (Punpoo) because he started really quick and smart.

"At 7-2 down I said to myself that his serves were coming long and I had to try and attack because otherwise he would be getting on top of me. Luckily, I won that set.