Stonehouse’s Billy Shilton took the honours in the Para table tennis class at the Mark Bates Ltd Table Tennis England Senior National Championships in Nottingham.
Shilton,26, has been included in a squad of 13 heading to Poland this week for the ITTF World Para Challenger Wladyslawowo (March 26-29).
Experience proved decisive in class 6-10 with Shilton seeing off challenges from improving young players in the group matches to reach the final.
Shilton was a 3-0 winner against Jaiden Caldeira and came through a tough match against Shae Thakker 3-2 after Thakker had twice come back to level.
Shilton started well in the final and led 1-0 and again at 2-1 but McKibbin twice came back to level and take it into a deciding set. Shilton led 8-4 but McKibbin kept fighting and had his chance at 10-9 before Shilton saved the match point and went on to clinch the set 13-11 to take the title.
“I felt like it was a great match and I’m really happy with the level I showed,” said Shilton, who was continuing his good start to the season having reached the final of the Singapore Smash last month. “Aaron and I are great friends so it’s never nice to play him in a big match like this. I felt that I adapted well when the match started to change and maybe that’s why I won today. We practice together all the time so it’s never easy as we know each other’s game inside out. I’m really proud to have won the title this year as it’s my first time so I’m hoping I can continue this form going into Poland.”
