Title wins for Tunbridge Wells’ Will Bayley and Minster’s Ross Wilson at the Michael Hawkesworth British Para Table Tennis National Championships

Will Bayley and Ross Wilson are among the best of British after title success at the Para Table Tennis National Championships.

Tunbridge Wells' Bayley successfully defended his class 7 title at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, while Wilson, from Sheerness, retained his class 8 crown - but missed out on a second win after he was beaten 3-0 by Joshua Stacey in the open standing final.

With world champion status Bayley can be an intimidating opponent, but he was pushed all the way in the class 7 final by Theo Bishop, who went down fighting 3-1. The Rio 2016 gold medallist was grateful for the test, too.

“It is brilliant to see young players coming through and pushing me and that is what I want, really,” said Bayley.

“I’ve been doing a lot of training with Theo this week because I know how good he can be and after most sessions I’ve been doing an extra hour with him so we know each other’s style so well now and understand each other’s game.

"He has so much potential so I hope this season he can really push on and try and qualify for [the] Paris [paralympics].

"I was playing a 14-year-old in the group today - Dan Mead - who has a lot of potential as well and I’ve had to work hard for every single match.

"I remember when I first started around 15 years ago we didn’t have that strength in depth but now even the development players are solid players so it has changed a lot for the better and it will push everyone’s level up. Even the top players have to be right on their game from the start.”

Wilson, meanwhile, got the better of Billy Shilton 3-0 in the class 8 final, having earlier won their group encounter in five sets.

“It is obviously good to win and it’s always an honour to play this competition,” he said. “You