Kent paralympic star Will Bayley has won gold in Slovenia.

The table tennis player from Tunbridge Wells clinched the men's class 7 singles title at the Slovenia Para Open in Lasko yesterday (Saturday).

He tweeted with delight last night: "Gold in Slovenia.

"I couldn’t achieve this without support from my coaches, teammates,family, club @BTTCOfficial and sponsors ! Big love ❤️"

He added: "Massive shout out to @watesgroup who are supporting me in such a way it’s transformed my training and given my the opportunity to fight."

The 33-year-old is the most successful British paralympic table tennis player in recent times with a stash of seven medals. He took two silvers in the delayed 2020 Tokyo Paralympics last September.

This was his first international since then, winning the men's class 7 singles title at the Slovenia Para Open in Lasko on Saturday. The 13 Brits, who included Ross Wilson, 26, from Minster, Sheppey, were up against all the leading nations except China.

Bayley reached the final against Chalermpong Punpoo of Thailand after beating Spain's Jordie Morales in a tough semi-final.

The pair had last clashed in the Asian Championships where Bayley won in three close sets.

Punpoo went into an early lead with a 7-2 advantage in the first set but Bayley fought back winning seven consecutive points to clinch the set 11-9. He won the second set 11-5 and the third 11-5 for a 3-0 win.

Afterwards, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant admitted: "I started pretty slowly but I have to give credit to him (Punpoo) because he started really quick and smart.

"At 7-2 down I said to myself that his serves were coming long and I had to try and attack because otherwise he would be getting on top of me. Luckily, I won that set. I think that was a massive momentum for me and I was solid for the rest of the match."

He added: "I was really happy with the way I played the tournament. It was tough mentally going from doubles to singles and tiring but I'm really pleased I held it together.

"Every tournament now is hard to win. It;s not easy. I'm fighting and working as hard as I can so I'm really proud. I need to enjoy it and celebrate a little bit because you never know how many more you'll win."

The Rio Paralympic champion celebrated by holding up the shirt given to him the previous day by three-time World and Paralympic champion Jochen Wollmert after they lost in the quarter-finals of the men's doubles in what was one of the German's final tournaments before he retires.

Bayley explained: "He is my hero. I wanted to win for him. I learned so much playing doubles with him and how to play tactics. He has so much knowledge. He is the best player in history."

Minster’s Wilson started this season taking gold in the men’s class 8 singles at the Costa Brava Spanish Open where he also combined with men’s class 9 gold medallist Joshua Stacey to win gold in the men’s MS18 doubles, beating McKibbin and Shilton in the final.