There’s a golden ticket for Paris 2024 on offer for those competing in next week’s European Para Table Tennis Championships - including two players from Kent.

Minster’s Ross Wilson will be going for gold in class eight, along with competing in men’s doubles class 18, while world champion Will Bayley from Tunbridge Wells will be battling it out on three fronts, the singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Singles champions will get an automatic qualification to play in the Paralympics in France next year while valuable world ranking points are also up for grabs. The event takes place at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield from September 4-9.

It’s only the second time since London 2012 Paralympic Games that the stars of the British Para Table Tennis Team have had the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd.

Wilson was just 17 when he took part in London 2012, winning bronze in the class 6-8 team event. He remembers it well and, now aged 28, he’s looking forward to another home event.

He said: “London, for me, was probably the best Games, it was absolutely packed out, I had all my family and friends there, all I could have asked. London put on a show and people really came out to support us, it was so nice, people were even chatting on the tube and you don’t get that very often!

“It was really nice. Rio (2016) was plagued a bit with the Zika virus and then Tokyo there was the Covid pandemic.

“I am really looking forward to trying to get to Paris and seeing that support again and just enjoying the experience. It would mean the world to me if I could do it.”

Wilson is now living and studying in Sheffield, having just completed the first year of a psychology degree. The championships are being staged in the hall next to where he trains - so he shouldn’t get lost on the way.

“It’s a strange feeling being so close,” he admits. “But it will be a fantastic event and I can’t wait to do it in front of a home crowd; there’s nothing really like it.

“Mentally, when you go somewhere else for a competition you have that phase of getting ready, you get into competition mode, but this one you are going somewhere you go every day, it is hard to get in that mindset, but there are also a lot of benefits.

“I know the area, where I can warm-up and practice, it has its pros and cons. We’ll be in a hotel, so away from friends and family, I guess that is important. I will predominantly be tournament focused.”

Wilson is enjoying his studies, as he looks forward to a different kind of future away from top-level competitions, but for now the two are going well hand-in-hand.

He said: “I really enjoyed my first year, it is interesting to learn something new.

“I have been playing sport for so many years that to get that knowledge of something else and to challenge myself outside of sport, and putting myself in an uncomfortable position where I have put myself back into academia where I haven’t been for quite a while.

“I have done that alongside my training and competition, it has been really tricky to manage, time-wise and performance-wise, but at the same time it has been a really good experience and I am looking forward to starting again next month.

“I previously did a Sports BTEC and this is a big switch over to doing something like psychology, it’s a lot more work, it is something I feel passionately about, I can push myself in something other than sport.

“It is definitely thinking forward, research as well shows that athletes’ performances when they have something else what they are doing can go up. I am getting the best of both worlds and and also preparing myself for after sport, I haven’t got that constantly in my mind where I think I am just an athlete, I have something extra.”

It certainly hasn’t hindered his game as he goes into the Europeans in great form, winning his last two tournaments, the Czech Open and the US Open. He beat world No.1 Viktor Didukh in the Final of the Czech Open.

He said: “They were really good and I am hoping to carry that on and use what I have had this season as motivation to go into these games now.”

He’ll pair up with Joshua Stacey in the doubles. They took silver in the World Championships.

Wilson said: “He is a great player and a good team-mate, we are looking to build on that and hopefully go one step further.”

Fellow Kent player Bayley is undefeated in men’s class 7 since taking Paralympic silver in Tokyo and reclaiming his world title in Spain last November.

He last won European gold in 2011 and is hoping to add a second European title to his glittering CV in front of a home crowd.

He’ll also be competing in the men’s doubles class 18 with Ashley Facey and mixed doubles class 14 alongside 13-year-old Bly Twomey.

“Every major championship means everything to me,” said 35-year-old Bayley. “I haven’t won European gold since 2011 so it is difficult to win these tournaments and I have to be at my very best to have a chance.

“I take nothing for granted and I’ll be really focused for every match. I think that’s what I’ve improved the most in the last few years - not getting too carried away thinking about winning a tournament but just trying to get through the rounds.

“It’s going to be very tough and there are some amazing players who all want to beat me. To win the Europeans at home would be very special and probably one of the best moments of my career.”

Mixed doubles partner Twomey only started playing table tennis two years ago.

“Bly is an amazing player and she would be amazing without me,” said Bayley. “She is so good to work with and she actually motivates me because she is so good in the training hall and really wants to win so it is making me better and I owe a lot to her.

“I sometimes forget she is only 13 - to be playing at this level as a 13-year-old is unbelievable.”