Tunbridge Wells' Will Bayley beats Bjoern Schnake to reach men's table tennis class 7 semi-final in Paris

Will Bayley is assured of another Paralympic medal after reaching the semi-finals of the men’s table tennis in Paris.

The 2016 gold medallist from Tunbridge Wells secured a place in the last four on Friday with a 3-1 victory over Germany’s Bjoern Schnake.

Tunbridge Wells' Will Bayley on his way to victory over Germany's Bjoern Schnake in the quarter-finals of the men's class 7 table tennis at the Paris Paralympics. Photo: ParalympicsGB/Sam Mellish — Tunbridge Wells’ Will Bayley on his way to victory over Germany’s Bjoern Schnake in the quarter-finals of the men’s class 7 table tennis at the Paris Paralympics. Photo: ParalympicsGB/Sam Mellish

Bayley had never lost a set in three previous meetings with Schnake, but the German won the Paralympic qualifying tournament to secure a place in Paris. He also played a fantastic match by beating Chinese world number 7 Liao Keli in the previous round.

Bayley won the first set 11-5, but Schnake came back and won the second set 11-9. The score was 1-1. He made the world champion work hard to win the next set 11-6 and secure a 3-1 victory (11-5) in the fourth set.

“I’m so happy I got through that,” Bayley said. “I’m playing so well and I just thought if I did what I did today I would win, but I didn’t expect him to play that well.

“To be honest, I didn’t think he was capable of doing what he did today. So I had to stay calm and I just went back to the tactics and what I had to do to win.

“I think I used my experience today. I have played in big matches in big competitions before and it was important that I won the World Cup and the European Championship because I played in them and I came through.

“I think I just had a bit of confidence and I thought to myself ‘I can still do this, if I just keep going I can still get through this’. It felt like a bit of a whirlwind that I got caught up in at times, but we got through it.

“He was tactically very good against me and when someone does that to me it becomes difficult. To win when someone has done that is really good, so I can take confidence from that because tactically he couldn’t have made me play much better – he was perfect.”

“I stuck with it and eventually I pulled out, so that gives me confidence. I want to go all the way. I think I’m playing the best of my career and I’m ready to go all the way, so ‘let’s go’.”