Dumbarton's Martin Perry has been named by British Para Table Tennis in a 13-strong squad to compete in the 2022 World Para Table Tennis Championships.

Having just missed out on automatic qualification, Perry has received a wild card to compete in his first World Championships and took silver in the men’s class 6 singles in the Greek Open earlier this month.

'No pressure'

Perry, 27, said: “I would love to have qualified directly, but I’m over the moon to be given a wild card and very humbled that the hard work I’d put in has been recognised because everyone works hard in this sport.

"It’s a really good opportunity because I feel I have no pressure or expectation so I can go out and enjoy my first World Championships.

"I’ve chatted to a lot of the guys in the team and they said they’ve struggled at big competitions by putting too much pressure on themselves and building it up too much.

"Everyone has put me in a really relaxed mindset – don’t get me wrong, I think I can get some good results, but it is nice going into a competition where I feel no pressure.

"I’m just going to try and enjoy it. Getting silver in Greece was a massive confidence boost because it was a strong competition in class 6.”

Perry trains regularly with the British squad in Sheffield and at Drumchapel Table Tennis Club, where he first started playing the sport

“Coming home and training at Drumchapel everyone is so happy for me that I’m going to the Worlds,” he said, “and that is so nice to see.  

"Everyone is helping me to give me what I need and everyone is so supportive.

"I just want to go out and enjoy it – it is completely new to have straight knockout and that really excites me because knockout sport is always exciting and fun and upsets are going to happen and I hope I can be one of those upsets.”

The prestigious event will be held in Granada, Spain from November 6-12. Taking place every four years, it is to be played as a straight knockout rather than initial group stages.

Team events have been replaced by doubles – men’s, women’s and mixed – with the category for pairs determined with a maximum number obtained by combining the classification numbers of the two players.