GB Team - Ashley Facey Thompson

 

afthompsonbioDate and place of birth: 31/01/1995, London (Whitechapel)

Home town: London (Stratford)
Lives: London
Family: Mum Pauline
TT Class: 9
Current world ranking: 19
TT Style: attacking
International debut: 2009

 

 

 

Ashley’s story

A keen sports fan Ashley started playing table tennis in year 7 at school and immediately impressed coaches with his talent. “I’d never been told that I was talented before so I thought I might as well give it a shot,” he explains.

Having played against GB international Aaron McKibbin in tournaments around England he was called up by the GB team to play a competition in Romania and is now in his third year with the GB Performance squad. Although he just missed out on the team for London 2012 he was selected for the Paralympic Inspiration Programme and so visited both the Paralympic venues and village,  an experience that has made him even more determined to get to Rio in 2016.

In 2013 Ashley picked up bronze medals in Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic and represented GB in the European Championships in both singles (class 9) and teams (class 10).

“It was an up and down season,” he admits, “but I can learn a lot from it. It was disappointing to miss out on the bronze in the team event at the Europeans but you’ve got to take the positives from it and try to do better.  The Europeans were my first major championship and it was a good experience.  I learnt what it takes to be up there with the best players and what it takes to be top ten in the world.”

Ashley started 2014 by winning his first National title in the men’s class 8-9 singles and made a major breakthrough in the team event in Slovakia in May when he came back from 0-2 down and 0-4 in the final set to beat the world number six Juan Bautista Perez from Spain 11-6 in the fifth. He continued to progress and finished the season by taking two bronze medals in the Cote d’Azur International and recording the best win of his career to date with a 3-2 victory over the men’s class 9 world number three from Russia Iurii Nozdrunov.

“I’m happy with the way things are going,” says Ashley. “I’ve been working hard in training, playing better and believing in myself more. Everything is coming together - I’ve got things to work on in training but I’m making progress and I just need to keep on progressing.”

Ashley was born with Erbs palsy, which has affected the nerves in the right side of his body, primarily in his arm and shoulder. One of the team’s band of Arsenal fans, Ashley is also a keen basketball fan and supports the LA Lakers. He is currently studying sports coaching and analysis at London’s South Bank University.

Take 5 with Ashley:

Most admired sportsman - Kobe Bryant

Sporting event you would most like a ticket for - NBA Playoff Finals

Place in the world you would most like to visit - California because the movies are made there

Three words that describe you best - cheeky, funny, happy

Favourite food - my mum’s home cooking

and finally - Ashley won the Canary Wharf Sports Personality of the Year 2012

2015 Results:
Belgian Open - silver, men’s teams (class 9); QF, men’s singles (class 9)
European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - QF men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Bayreuth Open, Germany - bronze, men’s teams (class 9); last 16, men’s singles (class 9)
Slovakia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9); last 16 men’s singles (class 9)
Slovenia Open - QF men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - bronze men’s teams (class 10); QF men’s singles (class 9)
Hungarian Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9-10); QF men’s singles (class 9)

2014 Results:
Cote d’Azur International, France - bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s singles (class 9-10)
Slovakia Open - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); group stages, men’s teams (class 9)
Slovenia Open - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); group stages, men’s teams (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - group stages, men’s singles (class 9); 4th, men’s teams (class 9-10)
National Championships - winner, men’ singles (class 8-9); winner, doubles (mixed class 6-11)

Career Highlights:
2015: European Championships, Vejle, Denmark - QF men’s singles (class 9); QF men’s teams (class 10)
Slovakia Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9)
Lignano Master Open, Italy - bronze men’s teams (class 10)
Hungarian Open - bronze, men’s teams (class 9-10)
2014: Cote d’Azur International, France - bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
National Championships - winner, men’ singles (class 8-9); winner, doubles (mixed class 6-11)
2013: Lignano Open, Italy - bronze, men’s teams (class 10)
Hungarian Open - bronze, men’s singles (class 9); bronze, men’s teams (class 9)
2011: Bayreuth Open, Germany - gold, men’s teams (class 10)
2010: Lignano Open, Italy - gold, men’s teams (class 10)

Further results are available at: http://www.ipttc.org/players/men/ashley_facey_thompson/index.htm