TABLE TENNIS – Bromsgrove Para Athlete Named for British Pathway

CRAIG Allen – a para table tennis athlete from Bromsgrove – has been selected to the British Pathway team for the ITTF Costa Brava’s Spanish Para Open this week.

Allen competes in Class 9 — which consists of athletes with mild foot or leg or play arm failure or severe injuries to the unplayed arms or mild brain injury with paresis finger monoplegia.

The 27-year-old made his international debut in 2014, and his biggest success to date was winning gold in the men’s class 9 singles in the 2017 Romanian International Junior Tournament.

He also won silver in the men’s 9th class singles at the Ciutat del Prat Junior Open in Spain the same year after starting to practice the sport on holiday in Tenerife at the age of nine.

At the age of 16, Allen decided to focus his career on table tennis and began competing in Para table tennis at the age of 18/19.

He is currently part of the British Para table tennis team’s Pathway team, which is one level below the British performance team.

Britain has sent 11 Performance athletes to Spain, to which nine members of the BPTT Pathway – including Allen – will join Catalonia.

The ITTF Costa Brava’s Spanish Para Open Platja dAro will be held from 14 to 16 October.