Will Bayley missed out on a gold medal by the smallest of margins after a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to China’s Yan Shuo in the final of the men’s class 7 table tennis at the Paris Paralympics.
The match was a repeat of the Paralympic final in Tokyo three years ago that Yan won in four sets. Since then, Tunbridge Wells’ Bayley, gold medallist at Rio 2016, had not lost a match in class 7 and arrived in Paris in the form of his life, having regained both the world title in 2022 and the European title last year.
However Bayley, a 3-0 winner over world No.4 Jean-Paul Montanus in the semi-final, began slowly and was 9-1 down. He fought his way back to 9-8 before Yan clinched the first set 11-8.
Bayley was 5-0 down in the second but came back to level at 5-5 and then took the set 14-12 with a brilliant winner. Yan sealed the third, 11-7, but Bayley came back to level again, taking the fourth 11-7, to force a decider.
At 3-1 in the fifth Bayley, having received a yellow card in the first game after being penalised for a foul serve, was adjudged to have kicked the ball away while trying to pick it up and received a red card and a point penalty. To his credit, he put the incident behind him and from 5-3 down came back to lead 9-8. At this point Yan took a time out and it proved to be the right call as he went on to take the set 11-9 and the match 3-2.
“I thought I played really well at times,” said Bayley. “I started very slowly but then I got my rhythm and felt really good.
“I just felt, weirdly, even when I was playing badly, that I’m going to find a way back into this match.
“I never doubted myself at all, even though I wasn’t hitting the ball well. I thought I’m not catching it but then I started catching it and I felt the momentum swing in my favour, and I felt on top, especially going into the fifth set.
“I had a vision of how I should win the match and what I needed to do. I was thinking about spinning it down the line a few shots and I was thinking about getting into his forehand and into his backhand – I was thinking tactics and how I can win, and I just felt that it was the finest of margins and that’s sport sometimes and it can happen.
“It was a great atmosphere and a privilege to be part of the match.
“It’s not easy to play that level in a Paralympic final. Both of us probably played our best level – maybe I could play better at the start, but I started motoring at times and I was playing my top level and he was playing his top level and I think it was a really good match.
“It’s not easy to play that way in a big tournament and I felt I did play my best at times today – not just here but in all my matches. It was just so close, and I feel that I was just millimetres away from getting the win. I’ve got to watch the video back to know what I could have done better, but I felt I was in control at times.
“I was two points away and I was trying to think what I was doing. I was so nervous to serve because I was always thinking he (the umpire) is going to call my serves, so it was difficult to do what I wanted to do and I think that affected me on the big points. But I’ve got to give him (Yan) credit – he won the big points, and it was what it was and there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
Although bitterly disappointed, Bayley can be incredibly proud of reaching his fourth consecutive Paralympic final.
“I think I will be proud,” he said, “but it is a tough one to take. I don’t really know what to think at the moment because it is so close to the end of the match.
It’s going to be a hard one to take for a while because I was so close to winning the gold medal and it’s what I’ve been dreaming of for a long time so it’s going to hurt for a while.”
