Jacob Wicks and Tom Matthews earn titles at British Para National Table Tennis Championships
Welsh players Jacob Wicks and Tom Matthews both won titles at the British Para National Table Tennis Championships at the start of November.
The only two Welsh representatives at the event, Jacob and Tom returned from Sheffield having been crowned champions in the Class 6 and Class 1 categories respectively.
19-year-old Jacob secured his first National title with 3-0 wins against Fliss Pickard and Dan Thomson, a week after his run to the French Open quarter-final in the Class 6.
“I’m so glad to finally do it,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming and I’ve been training a lot so it’s nice to see it paying off.”
The Cwmbran native has recently moved to Sheffield where he combines training with the British squad with studying policing at Sheffield Hallam University.
“It’s so good playing in the Nationals against top players like Fliss. It helps you gain that match experience and learn to stay calm so that when you go abroad, and you have the opportunity to play these players you can be as prepared as possible. I just want to try and build on this, get a world ranking and gain as many points as I can to give me the best chance of fulfilling my dream of playing in the Paralympics.”
Meanwhile, Tom competed in the Class 1 for his first outing since the Paralympics in Paris this summer.
He earned the National title following 3-0 wins over Nathan Drayner and Beth Kyte.