Shilton’s singles success in Spain
STONEHOUSE’S Billy Shilton boosted his hopes of Paralympic qualification by taking gold in the men’s class 8 singles at the ITTF Costa Brava Spanish Open in Platja D’aro.
Shilton started with a 3-0 win against Arufuahirokazu Tateishi from Japan, the former Asian Championships medallist and secured top place in the group and a bye into the quarter-finals with a 3-0 win against Banyu Tri Mulyo from Indonesia
He beat the Belgian former world number one Marc Ledoux 3-1 and then battled back from 2-1 down to beat Tokyo Paralympic bronze medallist Peng Weinan from China 3-2 and progress to the final.
Shilton beat Borna Zohil in five sets in Italy last week and he took the first 11-5 today before the 17-year-old from Croatia, silver medallist in the Brazilian Open last month, hit back to take the second 11-8.
However, Shilton moved ahead again taking the third 11-4 and secured the gold 11-6 in the fourth.
“I’m obviously unbelievably pleased to have won the tournament with some really good wins along the way,” said 25-year-old Shilton.
“I’m really proud and happy with how I’ve performed and mentally I was really strong and confident - trying not to put myself under too much pressure and just play my game.
“I’ve not been satisfied with the level I’ve been showing in tournaments over the last six months so I’m absolutely buzzing to be honest - it was much needed for me personally especially coming off the back of Italy which wasn’t the best performance.
“I’m unbelievably happy to have taken the gold and thankful for the team support – I was on late in the evening and they stayed to support me.
“Matjaz (BPTT coach Matjaz Sercer) was also great in the corner - we’ve worked together a lot in Sheffield and it really showed so I’m very happy.”
Shilton had suffered a last-16 defeat in the Lignano Masters Para Open in Italy.
In the group stage, Shilton was a 3-0 winner against 20-year-old Vit Spalek from Czechia and then showed all his character and determination to come back from 2-0 down against Zohil. He took a tight third set 13-11 and the fourth 11-8 before edging the deciding set 12-10.
In his last 16 match against Richard Csejtey, he fought back from 8-3 down in the fourth to take it 11-9 and level the match at 2-2 but the former world champion and world number one from Slovakia had the edge in the deciding set to win it 11-8 and the match 3-2.
In the doubles, Shilton and Paul Karabardak came through their group with a 3-0 win against Zbynek Lambert and Daniel Horut from Czechia and a 3-1 win against Sam Gustafsson and Jonas Hansson from Sweden.
They recovered from dropping the first set to beat Huang Jiaxin and Peng Weinan from China 3-1 in the quarterfinal and started well in their semi-final taking the first set against Ben Despineux and Sayed Youssef but the Belgian/egyptian partnership went on to take the match 3-1.