The 29-year-old European champion will make his first competitive appearance of the year at the Slovenia tournament, due to place on May 7 until 10, where he expected to face a strong field, including Paralympic and world champion Holger Nikelis from Germany, in the class one event.

"It would be nice to still be number one at the end of the season and I'll do my best but we'll just see how it goes," said Davies.

"I don't really think about the rankings which is probably the best way because at the end of the day I've just got to go and win the next match.

"It will be good to get back to competition and see what standard I am at now.

"I've done a lot of hard training through the winter but I haven't played a lot of matches so it will be good to see what more I can work on leading up to the World Championships [in China on September 6 until 15]."

Paul Davies, a European silver medallist and London 2012 bronze medal winner, has been named on the squad and will make his seasonal debut in Slovenia after breaking his leg in the winter, as well as Paralympic and European bronze medallist Sara Head, a class three player, who has also faced a fitness challenge after surgery.

Sara Head is coming back from surgery to compete in Slovenia and Slovakia ©Getty Images


"Training has been going well," she said.

"I've never had to come back from injury before and I'm looking forward to competing again because it's been a slow start to the season for me.

"Slovenia and Slovakia [May 14 until 17] are back-to-back and that is going to be a challenge but I can't wait to take up the challenge."

Paralympic and European silver medallist Will Bayley, a class seven player, got his international season underway with a gold in Italy last month and he will be hoping for good results in Slovenia and Slovakia in an attempt to reclaim the world number one spot from Ukraine's Maxym Nikolenko.

David Wetherill also started the season well in Italy, taking silver in the men's class six singles, as did Aaron McKibbin, who secured silver in the men's class eight team event, ahead of the Slovenia and Slovakia Opens.

Kim Daybell, who won his fifth National championship last month, is also heading to Slovenia, alongside class nine player Ashley Facey Thompson, who claimed his first national title last month.

Kim Daybell is also among the athletes to compete in the Slovenia Open ©Getty Images


London 2012 bronze medallist Jane Campbell - a class three player, class seven athletes Paul Karabardak and Billy Shilton, class five player Jack Hunter-Spivey, class six player Felicity Pickard and class one athlete Thomas Matthews complete the British line up.

"The Slovenia Open is the strongest tournament outside of the World Championships this year with around 310 players from more than 40 countries," British performance director Gorazd Vecko said.

"Most of the top players in the world will be there so it will show us where our athletes are and what we need to do better in the training hall to prepare for China.

"This is the first year that counts towards qualification for the Paralympics in 2016 and so it is also important that we give our really promising younger players experience and the best chance to qualify for Rio."

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