Davies looks to consolidate new world number one ranking in Belgium Open
Published:2929th October 2013
European champion Rob Davies heads a strong squad of Welsh Para Table Tennis players who will be competing in this week’s Belgium Open in Sint-Niklaas (October 31-November 2).
The 29 year old from Brecon, who recently replaced Paralympic and world champion Holger Nikelis as the world number one in the men’s class 1 category, will be looking to consolidate his position at the head of the rankings and continue his winning run.
"Two of my long term goals were to become European champion and world number one," said Davies, "and they have happened much sooner than I thought they would. I’ve been back training for the last two weeks and I’m hoping to keep my momentum and confidence from the Europeans going and to keep winning matches."
The Welsh players in Belgium includes two young players from the GB Para Table Tennis Team Pathway Squad who will be making their international debuts – Lawrence John, 15, from Swansea and Thomas Matthews, 20 from Aberdare.
Also competing in Belgium are Ashley Davies, Nathan Thomas (both from Cardiff) and Cellan Hall from Bridgend.
"Belgium will provide some good match practice for our squad players with next year’s World Championships in mind," said GB Performance Director Gorazd Vecko. "It will also be exciting to see some of the very promising young players from our Pathway Squad competing internationally for the first time and gaining valuable experience for the future."
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