Rob Davies has won a bronze medal at the Lignano Masters Para Open in Italy today.

Brecon's Davies had won his last two matches against Sylvio Keller in five sets and he had another great battle with the European bronze medallist from Switzerland, the Welshman proving just the stronger in a 3-2 win. 

Davies beat Kim Hakjin in the final of the Finland Open last year, having lost to the Korean World number 11 in their previous two matches, and he came out on top again in a 3-1 win.

A 3-0 win against the newcomer from Italy Daniele Mondini gave him a bye into the quarterfinals as group winner where he faced the Italian World number six Federico Falco. Five of their last six meetings had gone to five sets with Davies winning on each occasion, most recently at the World Championships last year. It went the distance again today with Falco twice levelling and Davies taking the deciding set 11-8.

His reward was a semi-final against the World champion Kim Hyeon Uk and the Korean World number two, silver medallist in Tokyo, was in superb form in a 3-0 win. Nonetheless it was a promising start to the season for Davies, who is working his way back to the form that has won him Paralympic gold in Rio and four European titles.

“I’m really chuffed with my tournament,” said Davies. “I’ve had some really good results for me and to play the Korean guys is always good as we don’t see them that often, so it was a good opportunity to have a look at them.  

"Unfortunately I came up a bit short in the semi-final but I’ll take it for now. If you’d said before coming out here that I’d get bronze, I’d have snapped your hand off to be honest.

"I just need to get some more consistency in my game and I’m looking forward to getting back, working hard and hopefully turning it round for the next tournament in Slovenia.”