World champion Will Bayley and world number one Rob Davies head a squad of 12 members of the GB Para Table Tennis Team taking part in the Bayreuth Open in Germany this week (May 27-30).

The factor 40 tournament will see the first appearance in Europe this year of the powerful Chinese team, which includes eight current World champions.

Bayley will once again face strong competition from Maksym Nikolenko, the World number one who beat Bayley in a five set final in Slovenia earlier this month, as well as his Ukrainian team mate and current European champion Mykhaylo Popov and China’s Keli Liao, while Davies’s opposition includes reigning Paralympic champion Holger Nikelis from Germany and Ki-won Nam, the Korean who narrowly beat Davies in Slovakia two weeks ago.

The GB team also includes World silver medalist Sue Gilroy, London 2012 Paralympic medalists Jane Campbell, Sara Head and Aaron McKibbin, as well as 16 year old Billy Shilton, who will once again partner Bayley in the men’s class 7 team event following their gold medal in Slovenia when they beat World champions Spain in the final.

The full list of players representing GB in Germany is:

GB Performance Squad:
Will Bayley (Tunbridge Wells/Sheffield) - Class 7
Jane Campbell (London) - Class 3
Rob Davies (Brecon) - Class 1
Ashley Facey Thompson (London/Sheffield) - Class 9
Sue Gilroy (Barnsley) - Class 4
Sara Head (Bedwyn) - Class 3
Jack Hunter-Spivey (Liverpool/Sheffield) - Class 5
Aaron McKibbin (London/Sheffield) - Class 8
Megan Shackleton (Todmorden) - Class 4

GB Pathway Squad
Lawrence John (Swansea) - Class 10
Tom Matthews (Aberdare) - Class 1
Billy Shilton (Stonehouse) - Class 7

Follow the GB Para Table Tennis Team on Twitter @gbparatt