Will Bayley is off to Paris next year after his class 7 title win at the European Para Table Tennis Championships in Sheffield secured a Paralympics spot.

Bayley, from Tunbridge Wells, took the Euros title with a 3-1 win against Jean-Paul Montanus - his second win over the Dutchman in 10 months after they met in the World Championship Final last November.

Following wins over Sam Gustafsson, Daniel Horut, Henrik Meyer and a 3-0 Semi-Final triumph over Kevin Dourbecker from France, Bayley started the Final well and took the first set 11-9 but Montanus found his range and took the second 11-7.

At 5-1 in the third the Dutchman seemed to have the upper hand, but Bayley clawed his way back and edged a tense set 12-10 to lead 2-1. The fourth set was nip and tuck and at 9-9 it could have gone either way, but Bayley moved to 10-9 and roared in triumph as an error from Montanus secured him the set 11-9 and the match.

“That was probably up there with one of the toughest matches of my life,” said Bayley.

“I knew that fourth set was crucial - you could see from my emotions afterwards because he gave me hell. When he’s on form like that he is pretty unstoppable and there wasn’t a lot I could do to stop him. Andrew (coach Andrew Rushton) and I were working hard and talking all the time trying to think of a strategy for me to win and luckily we came up with it.

“At 5-1 down in the third I changed tactics and pinned his middle and forehand. Andrew told me, ‘you can’t keep playing to his backhand’, and even though I got into that pattern again towards the end it is hard when you’re under pressure to stop that.

“My wrist is fixed so I find it really hard when he serves long and fast down the line - I can’t open my wrist and go down the line and he knows that so he is punching it back at me and there is not a lot I can do so I’ve just got to try and hang in there.”

Bayley will now go to Paris next year as the reigning world and European champion with hopes of adding a second Paralympic crown.

“It has always been a dream of mine to hold all three titles at the same time,” he said. “I’ve never done it and I said before the worlds that I’m going to win all three before I finish, and I’m so determined I can do that. I’m not putting pressure on myself - I genuinely believe I can, and I’ll go for it.”

Bayley’s men’s doubles campaign with class 18 partner Ashley Facey ended with a 3-1 defeat to Poland’s Igor Misztal and Maksym Chudzicki, while in the class 14 mixed doubles he and partner Bly Twomey were beaten 3-0 by France’s Clement Berthier and Morgen Caillaud.

Meanwhile, Minster’s Ross Wilson paid tribute to his friends and family after mixed results at the championships.

Wilson teamed up with Joshua Stacey to win bronze in the class 18 doubles, but his singles campaign proved a difficult one after he was moved into class nine on the eve of the tournament in Sheffield. He made the Quarter-Finals before losing to world No.1 Laurens Devos.

“I’m extremely proud of how the tournament has gone,” Wilson said. “It has been a tough week, but I guess I pride myself on resilience and I think I’ve had to show that quite a lot.

“I’d also like to say a big thank-you to my family and friends who have helped me through it.”

Wilson finished runner-up in his singles group after 3-0 wins over world No.25 David Pulpan from the Czech Republic and former world and Paralympic team medallist from Spain Jorge Cardona. In between he lost 3-2 to Juan Perez Gonzalez.

In the last eight Devos, a two-time world and Paralympic champion, had to produce his brilliant best to defeat Wilson, who produced some superb play of his own and edged the second set 14-12 before Devos secured the match 3-1.

In the doubles Wilson and Stacey had already beaten Germany’s Mio Wagner and Henrik Meyer 3-0 and followed with a 3-1 triumph against class 8 Ukrainians world No.1 Viktor Didukh and world No.6 Maksym Nikolenko.

They were to be denied, though, by the Polish team of class 10 world No.1 Patryk Chojnowski and class 8 world No.4 Piotr Grudzien, who made a flying start to take the first set 11-4.

Wilson and Stacey came back to take the second 11-7 but from that point Chojnowski and Grudzien took control and went on to take the match 3-1.

“We said after the last game that we played some great stuff, and we really found our form,” said Wilson. “Today they are such good players and they maybe put us under a different kind of pressure but with practice that will come.

“It is a pleasure playing with Josh and I think we will do some damage in the future.”