A Paralympian from Powys is looking to get his second gold medal in Paris after missing out in Tokyo.

Brecon’s Rob Davies MBE, 40, is looking to regain his Paralympic crown in the table tennis after missing out in the games three years ago due to an injury.

Rob previously played rugby to a semi-professional level until he broke his neck in a collapsed scrum while playing for Brecon RFC.

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Rob was taken to hospital by air ambulance, which in a tragic coincidence, had rescued his twin brother Richard from a road crash only half an hour earlier.

Whilst his brother made a full recovery, Rob was treated in Cardiff before going to a specialist spinal unit at Rookwood Hospital in Llandaff, where he regained some use of his arms and hands.

“I’d played rugby since I was four years old and never had an injury until then,” he said. “I’d always seen table tennis as a bit of a girly sport compared to rugby so I wasn’t that helpful to begin with.

"My grandparents pushed me and I started training with the guys in Wales and that was it. When I left hospital I started training two or three times a week.”

He went on to join Team GB in 2007 and quickly climbed the rankings. At London 2012 he missed out on the knockout stages however four years later he reached the top picking up gold in Rio.

Sadly he was unable to compete in Tokyo due to a shoulder injury but returned in 2022 to take bronze in the men’s class 1 singles at the World Championships and was narrowly denied a fifth European singles title in 2023.

“I’m really proud of getting to the final again but not of that performance,” Rob said.

“It wasn’t anything near what I can play like and that is the most disappointing thing. I’ve got to keep going – three years ago when I was playing consistently against these guys I was a bit ahead of them and I’ve got to get back to that.

"I know I’ve got work to do and that’s what I intend doing.”

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Ahead of the games, Rob says he was not putting pressure on himself.

“I do like the big occasions, and I like to think that I can up my game for it. I feel I’m going in the right direction, and I just want to make the most of it and enjoy it every time I’m on the table," Rob added.

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself for Paris, so we’ll see what happens.”

Rob will be taking on the South Korean team in the quarter final doubles with Tom Matthews on Thursday (August 29) before the men’s singles get underway on Sunday, September 1.