Davies has been plagued by an on-going back injury since winning two gold medals at the last European Championships in 2013 but is confident that with the help of his coaches and strength and conditioning team he can now put that behind him.
“It’s about managing my body and how much I train at the moment,” said the 31 year old former rugby player, “and I think we have it under control now so I’m happy. The last few weeks have been really positive and I’m playing some good table tennis.”
The world number three and World championship silver medallist admits that defending a title is always hard but says: “I’m not really feeling the pressure at the moment – I’m excited to be playing and looking forward to the challenge. I always want to win every competition and as I’ve won it before I believe I can do it again.”
Davies is also defending his European team title but with fellow Welshman Paul Davies still recovering from injury he will have a new team partner in another Welshman Tom Matthews, 23, who will be competing in his first major championship.
“Tom has less experience than Paul,” said Davies, “but he’s a good young player coming through and we can have some good results if it all goes to plan so we’ll just take one match at a time. I’m looking forward to playing with him and seeing what we can do.”
The GB team also includes London 2012 Paralympic bronze medalists Sara Head as well as Paul Karabardak from Swansea who will be playing his first major international in his new group - Class 6.
GB Performance Director Gorazd Vecko has ensured that his team is well prepared for the challenge ahead with training camps in Slovenia and Slovakia.
“The European Championships is the last major test for our athletes before the 2016 Paralympic Games,” he said, “and with many of the world’s best players coming from Europe it will be a very tough competition. This is also our qualification year for Rio and good results in Denmark will be important for all the athletes, particularly those on the borderline of qualification. Rio is inevitably in the back of all the athletes’ minds but the European Championships are a major competition and that is all we are focusing on at the moment.”
The full GB squad for Denmark is:
Will Bayley – Tunbridge Wells/Sheffield (class 7)
Jane Campbell – London (class 3)
Rob Davies – Brecon (class 1)
Kim Daybell – Sheffield/Leeds (class 10)
Ashey Facey Thompson – London (class 9)
Sue Gilroy – Barnsley (class 4)
Sara Head – Beddau (class 3)
Jack Hunter-Spivey – Liverpool/Sheffield (class 5)
Paul Karabardak – Swansea (class 6)
Tom Matthews – Aberdare (class 1)
Aaron McKibbin – London/Sheffield (class 8)
Megan Shackleton – Todmorden (class 4)
Billy Shilton – Stonehouse/Sheffield (class 7)
David Wetherill – Torpoint (class 6)
Ross Wilson – Minster/Sheffield (class 8)
