Perry and Shilton win class 14 doubles gold in Slovenia

Martin Perry and Billy Shilton did not cruise to gold in Slovenia. They survived a final that cracked open at 10-7 in the deciding set, erased three match points against Thailand’s Rungroj Thainiyom and Phisit Wangphonphathanasiri, and still closed it out 12-10 to win the men’s class 14 doubles title at the ITTF World Para Elite Lasko.

That finish told the real story of the week. Perry and Shilton had already shown they could handle pressure long before the final day in Lasko, where the tournament ran from 11 to 15 May 2026. Their path started with a 3-0 win over Korea’s Hwang Inchun and Park Hong Kyu, then tightened sharply against Sweden’s Sam Gustaffson and Jonas Hansson, a world No. 1 pairing that pushed the British duo to a 3-2 result.

The biggest escape came in the group stage against Chile’s Ignacio Torres and Matias Pino, the Para Pan American champions. Perry and Shilton led 10-6 in the second game, dropped the fourth, and then stared down four match points in the deciding end before edging it 15-13. That comeback kept them top of the group and moved them into the semi-finals, where they beat Brazil’s Paulo Salmin and Paulo Fonseca 3-0.

The final was another test of nerve, not a free pass to gold. Perry and Shilton started well, lost momentum and were forced to play from behind in the decider before saving all three match points at 10-7. Once they levelled at 10-10, the British pair finished the job, and the 3-2 victory gave them gold on the final day in Lasko.

The result carried extra weight because it came in the middle of a packed qualification period for the World Championships in Thailand in November 2026. Table Tennis England had identified Lasko as one of three quickfire tournaments in that run-in, and Britain’s doubles results suggested the squad was peaking at the right moment.

The medal haul backed that up. Fliss Pickard and Grace Williams took bronze in the women’s class 14 doubles, while Perry and Williams added mixed class 14 bronze. For Perry and Shilton, the gold was also a sharp step forward from their bronze in the men’s class 14 doubles at Lasko in 2025, and it followed another gold together at the ITTF World Para Challenger Podgorica in Montenegro on 2 May 2026, where they beat Serbia’s Aleksej Radukic and Luka Vidovic 3-0.

Shilton’s side of the equation was clear enough in the result itself: when opponents changed the pattern of play, Britain adjusted faster and stayed calmer. That combination, more than any single hot streak, is what made the difference in Slovenia and pushed Great Britain’s para-table-tennis doubles ceiling a little higher heading into Thailand.