Around The Games: Bayley and Davies guarantee medals

Will Bayley and Rob Davies each guaranteed a medal in the para table tennis for ParalympicsGB after reaching the semi-finals of their respective classifications.

Reigning world champion Bayley got the better of Bjoern Schnake of Germany in four sets in the MS7 classification, while Rob Davies overcame Korea’s world number three Kim Hakjin in an epic five-setter in the MS1.

They are both now guaranteed a medal, with Bayley set to play his semi-final on Friday, while Davies competes again on Wednesday.

Davies won Paralympic gold in Rio before having to miss the Tokyo Games through injury. Having led two sets to love against Kim, he was overhauled as the Korean forced a decider.

In that set, Davies trailed 5-0, but fought back to take it, winning 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 3-11, 11-8.

He said: “I’ve been out for so long and this is my first massive event since Rio 2016 where I won the gold, so this is unbelievable.

“In some stages I really enjoyed and then in others I was a bit nervous and edgy but I’m glad I got the win in the end.

“I was struggling with my nerves because I haven’t been in that situation for a very long time but when I was down in the fifth, I heard my brother shouting and some of the guys who have come over to watch me. I dug deep and managed to get the job done. I’m really chuffed to guarantee myself a bronze medal.”

Like Davies, Bayley won Paralympic gold in Rio, and he is now just two wins away from repeating the feat in Paris.

He overcame Schnake 11-5, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, before pulling footballer Cole Palmer’s ‘cold’ celebration after the win.

He said: “I’m so proud of myself. I had a bad feeling because he was playing so well and it’s actually the best he’s ever played against me.

“I got through it somehow and I’m so proud to have battled back from that.

“Everyone in our room, we always do the Cole Palmer celebration when someone has had a close match. So I had to do it for them since it was such a good match and they were all supporting.”

Reid and Hewett into last four

There was similar delight for ParalympicsGB’s wheelchair tennis players as Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett won their men’s doubles quarter-final.

In a raucous atmosphere at Roland Garros, the duo got the better of Dutch duo Ruben Spaargaren and Maarten Ter Hofte 6-2, 6-1.

They will now come up against French pair Stephane Houdet and Frederic Cattaneo in the semi-finals, and Reid cannot wait.

“It was one of our dreams before the tournament to come up against the local favourites,” said Reid. “We’ll be ready to go.”

Boccia stars progress

In the boccia, the trio of Claire Taggart, David Smith and Kayleigh Haggo secured their place in the knockout stages of the BC1/BC2 mixed team.

They were beaten 13-1 by China in their first pool match, but bounced back to edge out Portugal 5-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

“We are delighted to have made it through after the disappointment of this morning.” Taggart said.

“To fight back the way we did, I’m so proud of every one of us.

“David and I had our individual disappointments in the bronze medal matches and we’ve talked it through. It was really important for us to talk about the team event before we started playing.

“We might not have dealt with our individual losses yet but we knew we had to come together for the sake of the team. We fight like cat and dog but we do get on really well.”

Maguire narrowly misses out

Nathan Maguire narrowly missed out on a medal at the Stade de France, finishing fifth in the T54 1500m, just 0.22 seconds off the podium.

Maguire, who still has the 800m to come, said: “It was a bit of a weird one. I thought I picked a really good wheel but we seemed to be at the back, I’m not sure how that happened.

“I had to slip up the inside coming down the home straight into the second lap. I’ve never been in a 1500m Paralympic final so to be top five is massive for me.”