Shae Thakker did his chances of being elevated to the GB Para Performance squad no harm at all on Saturday. The Cippenham player won both his events as his home club hosted the British Para Table Tennis Cippenham Open Grand Prix. In the morning event, Shae won the Class 9-11 Singles and then followed up in the afternoon by winning the Open Standing Singles.

In the morning event, Shae won all his matches 3-0 in comfortable fashion. The afternoon open event was more competitive, however. Shae finished only second in his preliminary group, losing to Shah Masouri. That meant that he had to face the winner of the opposite group, Craig Allen, in the semi-final. However, this match proved to be somewhat easier for Shae who cruised into the final for a re-match with Masouri who had beaten Alex Bland in the other semi-final. This time, it was Shae who took control of the match and played some great shots to win the final 3-1.

Another Cippenham member, Jaiden Caldeira, also left with a medal. In his case it was bronze for reaching the semi-final of the Class 6-7 Singles in the morning. Jaiden won two matches in his group but lost to BG Para international Fliss Pickard who was the winner of the Class 6 Women’s Singles at the Spanish Open a week earlier.

The third member of the Cippenham trio, Lucie Bouron, beat Romain Simon in the group stage of Class 2-4 (wheelchair bound) but had to give second best to the overall event winner Dan Bullen.