STONEHOUSE table tennis star Billy Shilton, 16, finished the Cote d’Azur International in France on a high, taking gold in the men’s class 7 team event with Swedish partner Nicklas Westerberg, writes Jane Leigh.

Representing the GB Para Table Tennis Team, Shilton and Westerberg reached the final with a 3-0 win over Argentina in the morning’s semi-final. That left them facing the Brazilian/German combination of Felipe Figueiredo Formentin and Jorg Schnelder in the final – a repeat of their group match which Shilton and Westerberg had won 3-2.

In the opening singles against the Brazilian Shilton held his nerve to take a very close opening set 16-14 and went on to take the next two sets 5 and 6 to put his team 1-0 up. Westerberg then beat the powerful Schnelder 3-1 before combining with Shilton to win the doubles 3-0 and the final 3-0.

Shilton said: “I knew that if I won the first set I would have a very good chance to win the game and it was really close but luckily I managed to pull through.

"I think I relaxed then and I was playing really well – I knew that if I played my best it would be difficult for him to beat me. We played really well in the doubles – we haven’t played together before this tournament so to win comfortably was really good.”

It was a great performance by Shilton, who was winning the second gold medal of his short international career and is a real prospect for the future.

He said: “This gold medal means a lot more than the first, because when I won gold in Slovenia I was watching Will (Bayley) and Paul (Karabardak) and getting inspiration from what they were doing.

"To do it on my own with Nicklas is fantastic. I think I’ve improved a lot this year and all the coaches have really helped me. This is going to drive me on and keep me training hard so hopefully I can keep on improving.”

GB Performance Director Gorazd Vecko said: “Pathway player Billy Shilton showed a really good performance and we know what we need to work on to make him a world-class player.”

Now back in England, Shilton is spending half-term with the Pathway squad in Sheffield.