BILLY Shilton and doubles partner Paul Karabardak were silver medallists at the US Para Open table-tennis competition earlier this month.

Shilton, from Stonehouse in Stroud, was competing with Team GB teammate Karabardak in Texas in the men's class 14 tournament and they just missed out on a gold medal, losing in the final.

The pair began the group stages with a 3-0 win against another GB teammate Theo Bishop and Takuro Chihara from Japan before beating the experienced class 7 French pair of Kevin Dourbecker and Stephane Messi 3-1.

They won group 2 with a 3-0 win against Samuel Altshuler from USA and Enrique Preza from Mexico to set up an all-GB semi-final against Aaron McKibbin and Martin Perry.

McKibbin and Perry took the first set and Shilton and Karabardak came back to level before taking a tight third set 12-10 and completing a 3-1 win, 11-6 in the fourth.

In the final, they faced Thainiyom and Wangphonphathanasiri in a replay of the 2022 World Championship final that the GB pair won in four sets.

Shilton and Karabardak edged the first set 17-15 but Thainiyom and Wangphonphathanasiri took the second 12-10 to level and went on to take the next two sets 11-7, 11-9 for a 3-1 win.

"I’m pleased to start the doubles season with a silver," said Shilton. "I think this is the best me and Paul have felt as a pair since the World Championships.

"We seem to have a much better understanding of each other now and what we need to do to be successful. We played well in the final and the match could have gone either way but credit to them they are a great pair."

"We have struggled since winning the Worlds," acknowledged Karabardak. "So it was great to be playing well again.

"The final was really tight and I think we played some great stuff but just lacked a bit in the big moments. I think there were good signs for us moving forward and I’m really pleased with the way we played. Silver is a good result even though we wanted more."