Bayley has to settle for bronze
Table tennis
Will Bayley won bronze at the Slovenia Open last weekend.
The Paralympic champion partnered Billy Shilton in the men’s Class 8 category. Their run was ended by Sweden.
Bayley, from Tunbridge Wells, said: “It didn’t go our way but we can learn a lot and we have to take the positives out of it. I think I’m better than some of the performances I’ve put it in here.
“I was playing against high quality players who have won medals at major championships and I was playing out of my class in the team event but I know on my day I can play better.”
Cranbrook trio Josh Bennett, James Smith and George Hazel shared three titles at the National Cadet & Junior Championships.
Bennett partnered Lincolnshire player Matthew Leete to success in the boys’ doubles at Medway Park last weekend, beating Smith and Ethan Walsh (Hertfordshire) 11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7.
Smith got the better of his South East Performance Centre team-mate Bennett in the mixed doubles semifinals and went on to take the title, partnering Denise Payet (Middlesex) to a 7-11, 11-5, 11- 8, 11-3 win over Leete and Charlotte Bardsley (Staffordshire).
Bennett, Smith and Hazell then joined forces to win the junior boys’ team event.
They fought back from 2- 0 down to beat Grantham College in the final, Smith securing victory with a nerveracking 8-11, 9-11, 11- 5, 13-11, 11-9 win over Leete.
All three Cranbrook boys suffered narrow defeats in the last 16 of the boys’ singles.