STONEHOUSE table tennis star Billy Shilton grabbed team silver for Great Britain at the Costa Brava Para Open in Platja D’Aro.

Shilton teamed up with Marc Ledoux, the very experienced former Paralympic team gold medallist from Belgium, and they began with a hard-fought 2-1 win against the Australian Nathan Pellissier and 16 year old Vit Spalek from the Czech Republic. After winning the doubles 3-1, Ledoux lost the first singles to Pellissier 3-2 but Shilton secured the tie with a 3-0 win against Spalek. The British/Belgian partnership sent through to the semi-finals as group winners with a 2-0 win against Nicklas Westerberg from Sweden and the class 6 Italian Raimondo Alecci, winning the doubles 3-0 and Shilton beating Alecci 3-0.

Against the French team of former World number two Thomas Bouvais and Clement Berthier, Shilton and Ledoux edged a close doubles match 3-2 and Ledoux beat Berthier 3-0 to take his team into the final against the Hungarian Andras Csonka, silver medallist in Rio 2016, and former World champion Richard Csejtey from Slovakia. Having lost the doubles 3-1 Shilton brought his team level with an impressive 3-0 win against Csejtey but Csonka won the gold for Hungary/Slovakia with a 3-0 win against Ledoux.

“I was really happy with my performance in the team event,” said Shilton. “My motivation was really low after losing in the quarter-finals of the singles so to turn it around and take a team medal is a good feeling. I also feel that I played my best level in the team event.”