Pride at Paralympic medal for Brighton schoolgirl

Bly Twomey has become Britain's youngest ever Paralympic table tennis medallist

Members of the Brighton Table Tennis Club in East Sussex are planning a trip to Paris after 14-year-old Bly Twomey won bronze.

The teenager became Great Britain's youngest Paralympic table tennis medallist by winning doubles bronze alongside Fliss Pickard in the WD14 classification event.

She said: "It felt amazing, the atmosphere and everyone supporting me.

"Just to play with Fliss is a massive achievement for me and I'm just really proud to be her doubles partner."

Tim Holtam, the main coach at Brighton Table Tennis Club where Bly has played since she was 11, told BBC Radio Sussex: "We're so proud of Bly, it's an amazing story.

"She's a remarkable character, so calm and composed.

"Twenty of us are going out there on Saturday for a week, and then another 120 are coming out for the last two days, Thursday and Friday. There's going to be big support from Brighton.

"This has got the potential to put Bly and the club onto a whole new level, everyone's going to know about Bly and the club."

Bly Twomey won bronze with her doubles partner Fliss Pickard

The 14-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, is among an 11-strong British table tennis team spearheaded by Rio Paralympic gold medallists Will Bayley, from Kent, and Rob Davies.

Twomey's rise has been remarkable since making her international debut at the 2023 Costa Brava Spanish Open.

She was a European bronze medallist later that year, while she has arrived in Paris following an outstanding season that netted titles at the Czech Open, Slovenia Open, Polish Open and Lignano Masters in Italy.

She was back at the table in Paris on Friday morning in the quarter finals of the mixed doubles with Joshua Stacey, but they lost to the Chinese pair Shuai Zhao and Jingdian Mao.

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