Stonehouse table tennis star Billy Shilton is among a 16-strong GB squad that will compete in the IPTT Slovenia Open next week (May 4-7).

With nearly all the world’s top players set to take part including a strong Chinese team the tournament will provide a valuable opportunity for the GB players to test themselves against the competition ahead of the Paralympic Games in September.

“I'm really looking forward to Slovenia,” he said, “as all the top players will be there and it will be like a mini Paralympics. It will be a great learning curve for me as well as I'm going to be surrounded by all the top players. I'm really excited. Training has really picked up in intensity in the last few weeks. I am feeling much better physically and technically than before the Italian Open (in February) and the majority of sessions now are very match specific.”

The 17 year old narrowly missed out on direct qualification for the Games after he was reclassified as a class 8 in October last year, although as first alternate for men’s class 8 he still has a chance of competing in Rio.

“I'm devastated to miss out on Rio,” he admitted, “especially with everything that's happened with the changes to my classification but my aims are just to be the best athlete I can be and climb up the world rankings as much as possible.”

Shilton was announced this week as one of a group of talented young athletes who have been awarded the first set of Backing The Best awards by Sport England and SportsAid. The programme is backed by £5.5 million of new National Lottery funding and will be delivered by SportsAid, the charity which helps the next generation of British sports stars by giving them financial support and recognition during the critical early stages of their careers. The awards are worth up to £5,000 per year to help cover expensive costs such as travel, accommodation, nutrition and medical bills and athletes must have demonstrated outstanding ability to be eligible for the bursary.