Martin Perry was a spectator watching Will Bayley get on to the podium at London 2012 – now he is playing doubles alongside him at the Paris Paralympics.

Little wonder he lights up when asked how it feels to be competing on the biggest stage of them all for the first time.  

“It’s something I’ve worked half my life for just to get to this point,” he said. “It kind of comes in waves. It hits you really hard like ‘my goodness, I’m going to the biggest sporting event in the world!’ and then it sort of dies down a little bit and you’re like, ‘it’s just another table tennis event, relax!’

“I remember watching London 2012 in person. I was there when Will, as part of the team with Aaron McKibbin and Ross Wilson, actually won their bronze medal. Now, 12 years later I’m playing doubles with Will at the Paralympic Games. That’s incredible.

“I’m just so proud, so happy to finally get to my first Games and I just can’t wait to get out there.”

The partnership with Bayley is in the Men’s Class 14 Doubles, and Perry added: “He’s won it all – table tennis, he’s completed it! So it’s going to be a great experience playing alongside him and he’s obviously going to fight for every single ball just like I am.

“I think especially with the straight knockout system, anything can happen. We’re there with one goal in mind and that is to medal, but it’s going to be so difficult because there’s so many top, top teams and if you don’t get going from the word go, then it can be incredibly difficult. But I think we’re going to have chances.”

The 30-year-old from Paisley is also in the Class 6 Singles and he continued: “I’m seeded inside the top eight, which is great, which means I’m protected from the first round from playing anyone else in the top eight.

“But that doesn’t mean I get an easy match first round. There isn’t going to be easy matches. I want to go enjoy the experience, soak in the atmosphere, and I think that will allow me to play as freely as possible.

“If I go without any expectation and just enjoy the moment, enjoy the Paralympic experience and just play freely, play with my heart on my sleeve and hopefully do the country proud. It’s something I’ve worked so hard to get to and it’s just going to be amazing.”

Perry will have plenty of support in the crowd, with family, friends and team-mates from Drumchapel TTC all travelling to support him.

But there are two very special spectators who will be in the stands – his wife Siobhain and baby daughter Beira, who was born just a few weeks before he sealed qualification for the Games, meaning he had to sacrifice spending time with her as he focused on training and competing.

“Beira is just the best ever and this last week actually, she started clapping,” he said. “It’s just so much fun trying to teach her how to clap, for the Games. And, she started saying ‘dadda’ as well, so every time she does that, I just feel I feel so much joy.

“I’m hoping to get as much time with her as I possibly can in Paris. I know she won’t remember it, but it’s memories that me and Siobhain will have for the rest of our life and we’ll be able to look back when she’s older and show her the photos and the videos – and hopefully some silverware would be nice as well to have for her.

“I can’t wait to share that moment, the highlight of my career, with my wife and my daughter and my family there, it’s going to be the best thing ever.

“It’s the closest I’m ever going to have to a home Paralympic Games. I just feel so privileged that my friends and loved ones are spending their hard-earned money to come and watch me play table tennis at the biggest stage in the world.

“It fills me with so much joy and pride because, you know, they could spend that on a holiday for the family or put it towards their mortgage and instead they’re spending money to come and watch me and my team-mates play and I just want to reward them by playing the best that possibly can.

“What an experience that’s going to be, playing in front of the people that have sacrificed just as much as I have to get me to this position.”