Bayley denied 'destiny' of Paralympic gold by umpire

By Milly McEvoy in Paris

Will Bayley believes he was denied his destiny to win a second Paralympic gold by an umpire who ‘wanted to be a part’ of his men’s singles table tennis final.

The 36-year-old who lives in Brighton was competing in his fourth straight Class 7 singles final, having previously won Rio gold and silver in London and Tokyo.

He was up against Yan Shuo of China who had beaten him in the final in Tokyo, but Bayley felt that the match, which Shuo won in a decider, was swayed by Canadian referee Darek Mikita.

Bayley was shown two yellow cards, the first for dissent and the second for kicking the ball – which Bayley does to aid him picking up the ball.

The second yellow card resulted in a point for Yan in the decider which reduced Bayley’s led to one as the Chinese player went on to defend his title with a 3-2 win, and an 11-9 victory in the final game.

“I said ‘I’ve never seen anything like it’,” explained Bayley, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

“I said, ‘It is the Paralympic final’ and he just wanted to be part of it really.

“Say what you want, it is difficult to take, I am gutted, and I am emotional as well and it is hard for me to talk logically.

“I thought it was a great game, I thought Yan played well, I thought he was superb as well.

“Some of the points were actually good and I was enjoying it, some of the balls I hit were unbelievable and he hit some unbelievable shots which I was surprised about as well.

“I enjoyed the match, I enjoyed being a part of it, it was a privilege, it was probably the best two class 7 players for a long-time going head-to-head at their best.

“But I am gutted because I felt it was my destiny to win this tournament and someone just...It was what it was.”

Bayley’s first yellow card came as he argued with Mikita who had penalised him for his serve.

The Class 7 player is unable to fully extend his hand when he serves, due to his condition arthrogryposis, and is often penalised because of it.

The second yellow came in the decider as Bayley was accused of kicking the ball when going to pick it up.

He added: “When I am tired in matches and my legs aren’t that good, so it is easier to kick it to the barrier and lean on it to pick up the ball.

“I automatically do it, I was still doing it after I got red carded, and then I started running after it because I didn’t want them to fault me.

“It wasn’t like I was doing it with thinking behind it because I was still doing it naturally because I do it in training. I’m on autopilot and I have never had an umpire say anything about in my whole life.

“The cards affected me big time. I was 3-1 up and if I got another point that is 4-1 and it happened in a couple of sets too.

“I feel it was big and very important, it is a game up to 11, it is not a long game. But at the end of the day, I’ve got to find a way to somehow accept that.

“I don’t think I can dwell on it too long, but I do have to look at the video because I don’t think he was right to say it, but I’ll have to look at the video and see what he was talking about for a lot of the issues.”

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