Simon Heaps won bronze at the World AbilitySport Games in Thailand, as he reached the semi-finals.

Heaps was self-funded to compete at the event, which saw around 1,500 disabled athletes from 47 nations compete in 11 sports, plus three demonstration sports. At 68, he was the oldest player in the tournament.

He finished second in his group in the Class 5 category, defeating Lim Sang-Bae of South Korea 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-9) and Cheong Lam Sam of Macau 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-3) but losing out 3-0 (7, 7, 5) to Cheng Ming Chih of Chinese Taipei, the world No 2.

In the quarter-finals, Heaps defeated Norakan Chanpahaka of Thailand, who is ranked two places below him at No 31 in the world. The score was 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-8).

He met world No 14 Tatok Hardiyanto of Indonesia in the semi-finals and after two close games, his opponent pulled ahead in the third to seal a 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-5) victory.

Hardiyanto went on to win the silver, beaten by Cheng Ming Chih in three games in the gold medal match.

Heaps, ranked at No 29 in the December list, said: “I’m proud of my achievement, losing only to the world ranked No 2 and No 14.”