Grace Williams starts her bid for Paralympic qualification next week in the Costa Brava Spanish Para Open taking place in Platja d’Aro from March 9-11.

The Llanfyllin teenager won gold with Fliss Pickard in the women’s class 14 doubles at the World Championships in Spain last November,

The 19-year-old student is currently World number 17 in women’s class 8 and is looking to improve that ranking over the next 12 months during the qualification period for the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.

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“It is still hard to believe I’m a world champion,” said Williams. “It’s something I’ve achieved with Fliss and I’m very proud of us both.

"It is always in the back of my mind and it has given me motivation to train really hard for qualification year.

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"It’s always been a dream of mine to go to a Paralympics and I’m really excited and happy to be a part of it this time. We’ll see what the year brings and hopefully I’ll get to put on the GB kit in Paris."

Williams will be joined in Spain by 11 athletes from the British Para Table Tennis Pathway and Development squads, including Scotland’s Ryan Henry and Lancashire teenager Theo Bishop who both now train full time with the British team at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.

Williams added: “I’ve definitely improved as a player – probably not so much on the table with technique but off the table with preparation for matches, preparation for training and developing as an athlete.

"All the things that happened at the World Championships motivated me to improve myself and I’ve definitely seen it over the last couple of months of training so I’m really looking forward to developing that aspect of me for the coming tournaments, starting in Spain.”

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