Shi stars as England veterans collect medals at World Masters
Guang Shi drove England’s Gangneung haul with two medals, while results across multiple age bands suggested veteran depth, not just one standout run.
Guang Shi was the central figure in England’s medal count at the World Masters in Gangneung, and he earned every bit of that billing. He and Thomas Guignat of France twice clawed back from trouble in MD40, beating Ngai Cheuk Ming and Tang Ka Chun 3-2 after going 2-0 down, then edging Kim Jin Hyeok and Lee Hee Sung by the same scoreline in the semifinal before falling 3-1 to Lee Soo Nu and Kim Jungkyun in the final.
That doubles campaign was only half the story. Shi and Guignat then met again in the MS40 semifinal, where Guignat won 3-0, turning a partnership that had survived two five-game wars into an all-English-framed rivalry for the podium spots. The result gave Shi a second medal at the championships and made him the clear driver of England’s haul, but the broader picture matters just as much as the individual one.
England did not leave South Korea with a one-athlete medal story. Diccon Gray, alongside Germany’s Birgit Matthies, took bronze in XD60 after reaching the semifinals and losing 3-1 to Franz Kraus-Guntner and Brigitte Gropper. Katlin Poldveer added another bronze in WS40, giving England veterans podium finishes in multiple categories and across both genders. That spread matters because it suggests more than a single peak performance at one age level.
The near misses were competitive too. Ray Dixon, who had previously won MD85 gold in Rome with Dennis Bromage, exited the MS85 quarter-finals against Wang Yuanlong. Lorestas Trumpauskas, the 2025 European Veterans champion in Serbia, lost a five-game MS55 quarter-final to Oljeg Basaric and also came up short in XD40. Those results show the margins were tight even when England’s players did not reach the podium.
The championships ran from June 5 to June 12 at Gangneung Arena, a venue that hosted Olympic action at PyeongChang 2018, and they came in the ITTF’s centenary year, 100 years after the federation’s founding in 1926. Close to 3,000 players from more than 85 countries and territories took part, while the event pages had projected more than 4,000 participants from over 100 countries and territories across five events for players aged 40 and above. The official champions list, which included host-nation winners such as Kim Jin Hyeok in MS40 and Lucian Filimon in MS45, underlined how strong the field was.
England’s veterans did more than collect souvenirs in Gangneung. Shi provided the headline run, but the medals spread across singles, doubles and mixed doubles suggest a program still capable of producing repeat international results, not just one name carrying the load.
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