Two golds for Britain in Spain: Lowri Hurd and Rob Davies build towards the Para Table Tennis World Championships

At the ITTF World Para Future event in the Region of Murcia, Spain, the British Para Table Tennis team (BPTT) closed its campaign with two singles gold medals: Lowri Hurd in the class 9 standing event and Rob Davies in the class 1 wheelchair event. The results serve as a stepping stone ahead of the Para Table Tennis World Championships in Thailand, which takes place only weeks later. Lowri Hurd: a gold built on nerve in the decisive points At 18 years old, Lowri Hurd has just been elevated to the BPTT Performance squad and immediately made her mark by winning the class 9 title. What stands out is how she won: nearly every set in her campaign was decided by two or three points. Against Mirjana Lucic of Croatia, ranked No 7 in the world, Hurd took sets 13-11, 16-14 and 12-10. In the deciding set she converted her fourth match point to seal a 12-10 win. Speaking after the match, Hurd stressed that the decisive factor was not technique but the ability to stay calm and maintain positive body language at the table. She said she executed the game plan drawn up with coach Ross Wilson in a tactical discussion held the night before the match. That points to a structured pre-match preparation routine within the British set-up, including opponent scouting, rather than purely on-table adjustments. Her run also exposed areas to monitor. In her second match she admitted she was tired and unwell. She also spoke candidly about recent struggles with her mental game. Together these indicate that the 18-year-old's physical reserves and psychological consistency are being managed rather than resolved. Her relocation to Sheffield to train in the national centralised environment stands as the clearest signal of the programme's investment in the next generation. Rob Davies: the consistency of a European champion If Hurd represents breakout potential, Rob Davies represents certainty. The class 1 wheelchair player is the reigning European champion and has now extended his run with a second consecutive gold, following his title in France. In Murcia, Davies beat opponents ranked No 12 and No 13 in the world. Unlike Hurd, Davies did not start the tournament smoothly, dropping opening sets in some matches. He admitted struggling to read the tables and the hall. Even so, he showed a tournament-length adaptation curve, growing more solid the deeper he went. In the semi-final he recovered from 7-3 down to take a set. In the final against Adam Urlauber of Hungary, ranked No 13, he produced what was judged his most controlled performance of the event, extending a record of never having lost a set in four previous meetings with the same opponent. Notably, Davies admitted that his match against Papirer of France, ranked No 12, was far tougher than he had hoped, pushing him to a deciding set. His comments suggest the gap between the top tier and the chasing pack is compressing. Even so, the Welshman expressed confidence heading into the World Championships: "Two gold medals going into the Worlds gives me a lot of confidence." The wider British picture in Murcia Beyond the two golds, the British team left several notable signals. Paul Karabardak was seeded No 1 in class 6 and received a bye into the semi-finals, reflecting his genuine standing in the class. Max Flint, a Pathway athlete, competed in class 10, showing the event is being used as a talent-transition platform. Conversely, Britain's class 4-5 men exposed a clear ceiling. Hunter-Spivey lost 3-1 to Filip Nachazel of Czechia, ranked No 8. Wicks, a 21-year-old Welshman competing in only his second class 4-5 tournament, lost 3-0 to Nachazel and 3-0 to Boris Travnicek of Slovakia, ranked No 9. Hepburn also fell 3-0 to Travnicek. The overlap indicates a cluster of opponents sitting just above the current level of Britain's class 4-5 group. The nature of the event and its strategic meaning The ITTF World Para Future is a development-tier event, sitting below the World Championships and the Paralympic Games, functionally similar to WTT Feeder events in the able-bodied system. It is not a decisive battleground for ranking points or major-event selection, but primarily serves to build international match experience and form. Britain brought a squad spread across multiple classifications, from Davies in class 1 wheelchair to Karabardak in class 6, Hurd in class 9 and Flint in class 10, reflecting a broad-based development strategy. The squad was deep in numbers but without a single dominant athlete in any class at this event. Another notable detail is the near-total absence of Asian table tennis powers such as China and Japan, with only one Korean entrant, Kim Hyungtae, mentioned. Risks and open questions ahead The most notable risk lies in Hurd's competitive profile. Winning repeatedly by narrow margins shows she prevails through clutch-point conversion rather than dominance. That is both a strength in nerve and a fragility in variance. If form or confidence dips, the safety margin is very small and results could swing the other way. She also narrowly missed World Championships qualification in her first Para season by a thin margin, indicating a tight qualification threshold. For Davies, the risk is far lower. He maintains consistent form, has improved his mental control and holds a dominant head-to-head record over a top-15 opponent. The point to watch is that rivals such as Papirer, ranked No 12, are closing in, meaning the gap at the top tier is narrowing. Without maintaining his current level of preparation, the Welshman's advantage could shrink in Thailand. Conclusion Murcia is not the final measure, but it is an effective test. The British Para table tennis team walked away with two golds, one from a consistent veteran and one from a rising 18-year-old, while clearly identifying a bottleneck in the class 4-5 men's group. The World Championships in Thailand will be the true examination, when the strongest and fuller-strength opposition takes the stage.