Paris 2024 Flash Quotes: Para Table Tennis

Comments from ParalympicsGB table tennis players following this morning’s session.

Bly Twomey and Joshua Stacey lost 11-3, 12-10, 11-5 to China’s Shuai Zhao and Jingdian Mao in their XD17 quarter-final. Twomey won a bronze medal alongside Fliss Pickard in the class 14 women’s doubles.

Joshua Stacey

Sport: Para table tennis

Age: 24

Hometown: Cardiff

“I think they seem very comfortable as a pair as to how to navigate a game and make sure they are both getting their strengths in, and I think they did that very well. They played the right table tennis at the right moments which obviously with the experience they have you’d expect them to. I wouldn’t say their quality was unbelievably good, but everything was just very solid and when they needed to they played the right balls at the right times.

“With this being me and Bly’s second tournament ever and with Bly being only 14 we’ve got a lot of improvement to come over the years and with that and having more experience of playing with each other it will eventually come good, and we’ll be beating those kinds of players.”

Bly Twomey

Sport: Para table tennis

Age: 14

Hometown: Brighton

“I’m very pleased that we got to the quarter-finals and to play them was just amazing and playing with Josh makes it even better. I didn’t think I was going to be standing on the podium at my first Paralympics and I’m very proud to say I’m a bronze medallist with Fliss Pickard. I wish I could do it with Josh as well but today wasn’t our day.”