Will Bayley returns to international competition next week for the first time since winning Paralympic silver in Paris last September.

Tunbridge Wells’ Bayley is among a 14-strong British squad for the first Elite tournament under the new ITTF World Para tournament structure in Slovenia from May 12-16. Before that, Bayley will be part of a 16-strong line-up for the World Para Challenger Lasko tournament from May 6-10 - also at the same venue in Slovenia.

From 2025 the ITTF World Para Circuit is made up of three competition tiers: Future, Challenger and Elite, with different ranking points as per the level of event.

Slovenia has been a happy hunting ground in the past for Bayley, who will be looking to win his fifth consecutive singles gold medal in Lasko, having triumphed in the Slovenia Open in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

“I’ve been training hard and I feel I’m in my best shape so I’m excited to play my first tournament since Paris,” he said.

“I’m not thinking about Challenger or Elite tournaments, I just want to win every match and take it from there. I’ve never played back-to-back tournaments before, so I guess I’ll have to adapt to how I’m feeling.

“I’m playing in singles and doubles so that will be an exciting challenge for me to try and manage my body through hopefully a lot of matches over 10 days.”

Bayley was denied a second Paralympic title in both Tokyo and Paris by Yan Shuo, but believes that he can beat the Chinese world No.2.

“I like to think I’ve learnt a lot from the final in Paris,” the Rio 2016 gold medallist said.

“I actually feel more confident after Paris than I was before because of my performance and the way I played. It is hard to define, but I felt more dominant even in the final against Yan and I’ve got a lot of confidence from that.

“I feel after Paris that if I play my way I can win whereas I felt he outplayed me in Tokyo, so I’ve actually gained confidence from the final even though I didn’t win it.”