By Emily Goddard

Aaron McKibbin 130513May 11 - London 2012 medallists Aaron McKibbin and Paul Davies added to the British gold medal haul at the Slovenian Open as Paralympic silver medallist Will Bayley collected a team bronze having won singles gold won earlier in the week.

Partnered with Sweden's Fabian Rignell, world ranked number 15 McKibbin, who claimed bronze alongside Bayley and Ross Wilson in the class 6-8 at last summer's Games, recorded a 3-0 first win against world number nine Marc Ledoux of Belgium in the men's class 8 team.

Despite being disappointed by his performance in the semi-finals, McKibbin came back in the final to record a second consecutive win over Ledoux before clinching the gold medal with a five set win over Belgian number two Mathieu Loicq.

"I felt I had something to prove today because in the semi-final I performed really badly and lost to a person who can play but I don't feel I should have lost to," McKibbin admitted.

"I played exactly the same against Ledoux as I did yesterday and I think I have found a way to beat him now.

"I always have tight games with Loicq and although I lost the fourth set after having four match points I was quite relaxed as I felt I was playing well."

Paul Davies 130513Paul Davies clinched gold at the Slovenian Open with Rob Davies

Davies, also a Paralympic bronze medallist, took the men's class 1 team title with fellow Welshman Rob Davies.

Davies had recorded a first win over France's world number three Jean-Francois Ducay on his way to a bronze in the singles before repeating the victory in the semi-finals of the team event to earn Britain a place in the final against the combination of Austrian Andreas Vevera and Swiss Silvio Keller.

Despite having previously never beaten their opponents, the pair got off to a good start when Rob beat world number one Vevera in five sets and Paul beat Keller in three, and although they lost the doubles Rob secured the gold with a three set victory over Keller.

"I'm well chuffed," said Rob Davies.

"All the training seems to have paid off so I need to keep going now and push myself even more.

"PD was awesome as well – he worked really hard and pulled me out of some games when I was struggling.

"I wanted to beat some of the guys above me this year so I need to start doing that consistently and move above them in the rankings."

Bayley, with playing partner Paul Karabardak, came up against an experienced Spanish team in the men's class 7 the semi-finals but fought on to secure the bronze.

Will Bayley 130513Will Bayley added a bronze to the gold he won earlier in the week

Karabardak had come within one point of defeating Paralympic champion Jochen Wollmert in their group match against Germany and was pleased with his performance in Slovenia.

"I played some really good players this week and I've been within touching distance of beating them," he said.

"If I can train more and get more match sharp then hopefully I can turn those results around ready for the Europeans in September."

For the women, Britain's Sara Head, a London 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist, was teamed with France's Valerie Gay in the class 3 women's team event.

The pair proved to be a winning combination as they won all their matches, and secured wins over Turkey and Italy to take the bronze medal.

"It's been an up and down week for me but there's been some great performances involved as well," Head explained.

"I'm happy that I finished better than I started and won more matches.

"I have to remember that I can fight and it would be nice to start doing that earlier in my matches."

Sara Head 130513Sara Head won a bronze in the women’s class 3 team

Britain's performance director Gorazd Vecko was pleased with his team's performances and "encouraging" results.

"This was a very tough event with strong competition and we had a lot of good results, especially in the singles events and the singles in the team events, which is really encouraging," the Slovenian said.

"Rob Davies beat the Paralympic silver medallist from London twice and the world number one, Aaron McKibbin beat two top 10 players and won a gold medal in the team and Will Bayley managed really well under pressure to take a well-deserved gold medal in the singles."

Britain's players will stay in Slovenia for a week-long training camp before heading to events in Slovakia and Germany later in the month.

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