IT is a key month for Stonehouse table tennis star Billy Shilton as the Stonehouse man looks to secure his place in the Great Britain Paralympic squad for Paris 2024.

As Para table tennis enters its final month of qualification for the 2024 Paralympic Games, British athletes will be travelling to Kazakhstan, Italy, Spain and Poland in March hoping to consolidate or improve their chances of competing in Paris later this summer.

Shilton, 25, will be competing at the ITTF Lignano Masters Para Open in Italy (March 6-9) and the ITTF Costa Brava Spanish Para Open (March 11-14), looking to secure as many qualifying points as he can.

Qualification has been even harder for Paris than for previous Paralympics with even a top five world ranking not being enough to secure a place at the Games in some classes.

"When I look back at a similar time before previous Games, I think this year we are looking good and the team is the best prepared it’s ever been," said performance director Gorazd Vecko.

"It doesn’t mean that everyone is certain to qualify but I think we are in a much better position than we were at the same time before London, Rio or Tokyo.

“It is difficult when you see athletes calculating their points and the position they are in all the time against the results of players from other countries.

"With all the calculations we have to make sometimes it feels as if we are working in an accountant’s office and not in sport. In some ways, it is more difficult to qualify than to take a medal at the Paralympic Games because it is such a tough qualification system, but it is part of the sport.

"In some classes only the top two in the world ranking will qualify because they also have the regional champions, wild cards and the winners of the World Paralympic qualification tournament. I feel it is too hard to qualify and the ITTF and IPC need to look at how to allow more athletes to qualify because Para table tennis is growing, and some classes have more than 80 active players but only 10 can take part in the Paralympic Games which is really hard."