Чемпион мира Билли Шилтон выиграл золото на турнире ITTF в Финляндии

WORLD doubles champion Billy Shilton has struck gold once again with a flawless performance. The Stonehouse para table tennis star topped the podium in the men’s class 8 singles at the ITTF World Para Future Lahti in Finland, delivering a flawless performance without dropping a set. He dominated the competition, defeating 16-year-old Tomas Novotny of Czechia and Italy’s Leonardo Coletta—silver medallist at the European Paralympic Youth Games—by identical 3-0 margins. Mr Shilton said: "I’m obviously really happy to take the gold without dropping a set, it’s a good feeling." A further 3-0 win over Irish teenager Jude Sheldon secured his place in the quarter-finals as group winner. In the knockout rounds, Mr Shilton edged Dutchman Paul Van Der Oord 14-12 in the first set before closing out another 3-0 victory. He then beat Poland’s Marcin Zielinski, doubles champion at the European Paralympic Youth Games, by the same scoreline to reach the final. There he faced Sweden’s Emil Andersson, world number 13, European silver medallist, and a former Paralympic bronze medallist. He took the first set 11-8 and closed out the second 11-9 after a timely timeout from coach David McBeath at 10-8. Although Andersson fought back to lead 10-7 in the third, Mr Shilton levelled at 10-10, saved another set point, and took the set 13-11 to win the match 3-0. Shilton said: "I’ve felt really good in training over the last few weeks, and I think that showed today which is not easy to do so I’m really happy with that. "The second set (in the final) was huge – I think I was 10-4 up and he started to change a few things and played really smart and it was a really good call from Dave to call a timeout. "This gives me a lot of confidence going into the next tournament in France and the World Championships that I can show this level so I’m really happy and on to the next one now."