Ross Wilson combined with Croatian teenager Borna Zohil to win gold in the men’s class 18 doubles on the last day of the ITTF Polish Para Open in Wladyslawowo, defeating teammates Joshua Stacey & Ashley Facey in the final, while Fliss Pickard & 13-year-old Bly Twomey followed their gold medal winning performances in the singles by taking bronze in women’s class 14.

Men’s class 18

Joshua Stacey & Ashley Facey progressed to the knockout stages as group winners after winning 3-0 against Mio Wagner from Germany & Vit Spalek from Czechia and 3-0 against class 10 Para PanAmerican silver medallist Manuel Echaveguren Farias & Cristian Dettoni from Chile.

They were 2-1 down in their quarter-final against Jan Reinig from Germany & David Pulpan from Czechia but came back to level at 2-2 and take the deciding set 11-4 and went through to the final after a 3-0 win against Banyu Tri Mulyo & Komet Akbar from Indonesia in the semi-final.

Wilson & Zohil received a walkover in their first match when their opponents Henrik Meyer from Germany & Liu Chaodong from China withdrew and then lost in five sets to Mulyo & Akbar.

They progressed to the quarter-finals after a 3-1 win against Talgat Erekeyev & Ali Makhulbekov from Kazakhstan and after dropping the first set came back to beat Bunpot Sillapakong & Chalermpong Punpoo, the Asian Para Games bronze medallists from Thailand 3-1.

Wilson and his young partner were 2-1 down against class 8 Rio 2016 Paralympic silver medallist Andras Csonka from Hungary & class 10 Asian Para Games medallist Lin Chun Ting from Chinese Taipei but edged a close fourth set 13-11 and took the deciding set 11-8 to win 3-2.

In the final Wilson & Zohil made the better start and led 2-0, 8-4 but Stacey & Facey kept fighting and having come back to take the third set 11-9 they took the fourth 11-4 to level the match. In the deciding set Wilson & Zohil always just had the edge and they took it 11-8 to win the gold.

“It was nice to play with Borna and it worked out in the end,” said Wilson. “I’m really happy with my performance in the doubles and I feel like I played well but I’ve still got more to offer. So, winning an international competition and still thinking that you can do more is a great feeling.

“I’m proud of how I played in the doubles and even in the singles I had some positives. It was a shame to lose to the Chinese player in the semi-final, but I’ve got to reflect on that now and do my best to come back stronger.”

After disappointing results in their singles Stacey and Facey showed great resilience to come back with a better performance in the doubles although they were ultimately disappointed not to finish with a win.

“It was a decent match,” said Facey. “We didn’t start well and although we played better towards the end it wasn’t good enough.”

“The difference was my receive was poor and it put Ashley on the back foot,” said Stacey.

Women’s class 14 RR

Fliss Pickard & Bly Twomey started with a 3-0 win against Freja Larsen from Denmark & Barbara Jablonka from Poland and then lost in four close sets to the class 6 world No 4 Katarzyna Marszal from Poland & class 8 world No 5 Sophie Kelmer from Brazil.

They started well against class 8 Nina Reck & class 6 world and European doubles medallist Morgen Caillaud to lead 2-0 but the German/French partnership came back to level at 2-2 and took the deciding set 11-7.

Pickard & Twomey secured bronze with a typically determined performance in their final match against class 8 world No 4 Yuri Tomono from Japan & class 6 world No 6 Gabriela Constantin from Romania, taking the deciding set 11-8 after Tomono & Constantin had come back from 2-0 down to level at 2-2.

“Bly and I work really well together,” said Pickard. “It’s been a tough competition, but we never stopped fighting and that’s the main thing. It’s exciting to see how good we can get as a partnership in the future.”

“I’m learning a lot from playing with Fliss,” said Twomey, “as it makes me more consistent and better at movement. She is an amazing player and I love playing with her. Andrew (BPTT head coach Andrew Rushton) helped a lot and gave us some brilliant coaching. This is our second time playing together and I’d hoped we could do a bit better but it’s a learning curve and I’m very happy to finish with a win.”

Men’s class 8

Jack Hunter-Spivey & class 2 Canadian Peter Isherwood were drawn in a tough group and did not progress after losing 3-0 to world champions Kim Jung-gil & Kim Young-gun from the Republic of Korea and 3-0 to Mladen Ciric & Mitar Palikuca, the European bronze medallists from Serbia.

Women’s class 10

Megan Shackleton & class 5 world No 8 Caroline Tabib from Israel lost 3-1 to the class 5 pair of former world champion Kang Oejeong & world No 3 Jung Young A from the Republic of Korea.

They were 3-0 winners against Hatice Duman from Turkey & Zorica Popadic from Serbia and fought back from 2-0 down against Lee Mi Gyu from Republic of Korea & Flora Vautier from France to level at 2-2 but did not progress after losing the deciding set 11-6.