Martin Perry picked up an impressive pair of bronze medals from his trip to the Costa Brava Spanish Para Open.
The Paisley para table tennis star was competing in the men’s singles and men’s team event in Platja d’Aro over the weekend, looking to bag his first world ranking points since March 2020.
In the singles event, Perry began with a 3-0 win against Francisco Rodriguez from Spain before recovering from losing the first set to beat 18-year-old Benedikt Muller, the European team bronze medallist from Germany, 3-1.
That secured a bye into the semi-finals as group winner, where he went on to face Esteban Herrault.
The pair had played three close matches in 2019, all won by Perry, but this time around it was the Frenchman’s turn to taste victory as he beat the Paisley man 3-0 before going on to win the final and secure gold.
Perry told Express Sport: “It wasn’t a bad performance, to be honest. I thought I played at a decent level but Herrault was just a little bit better.
“Of course I’m disappointed to come away with bronze, especially being seeded second. I was hoping to get to the final but on the positive side I think I’ve highlighted a few areas where I want to work on in training and improve.
“It has felt good to be back playing and fighting for wins and world ranking points and the hunger is still definitely there.
“I’ve had some tough matches and been able to win them.
“There is plenty to work on and I’m looking forward to the future.”
Perry went on to follow up his singles medal by taking bronze in the men’s class 6-7 team event alongside Alex Bland.
After safely navigating through the group stage, the British combo beat Dutch pair Dustin Eier and Yannick Paredis in the quarters before narrowly being edged out in the semi-finals by European bronze medallists from Poland Maksym Chudzicki and Michal Deigsler.
Perry added: “I’m really happy with how the team event went.
“Alex and I played some really good doubles and we both had solid individual performances.
“Overall, despite being disappointed not to get to the final of the singles I’m actually quite happy and feeling positive for the French Open in a few weeks.”
