New table tennis centre opens in Brighton

A brand new table tennis venue has opened "with a real buzz" in Brighton, according to Paralympic medallist Will Bayley.

Bayley, the current World and European champion, told BBC Radio Sussex the new centre in Moulsecoomb was "for the community".

Tim Holtam, founder of the Brighton Table Tennis Club, which has another venue in Kemptown, said Monday night was "the best in the club's 18 year history".

Brighton schoolgirl Bly Twomey, 14, who won bronze at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, was also present at the official opening.

The venue at Hillfort House, Moulsecoomb Way, was built with grants from the London Marathon Foundation and Sport England.

Mr Holtam said: "It's unbelievable... We are going to have two full time venues and it still feels like we are at the beginning of the journey. It's like a film."

"It's for everyone," Brighton-based Bayley said, adding that people in their 90s were playing table tennis at the club alongside children as young as four.

Bayley, who was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, said people of different abilities were "especially welcome".

"Table tennis is a really good way of keeping your mind active," he said. "It's a brilliant sport to help people."

Born with arthrogryposis, a rare congenital disorder affecting all four of his limbs, he was also was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of seven.

His grandmother brought him a table tennis table while he was recovering.

After representing Great Britain in the Paralympics table tennis team at Beijing 2008 - where he said he lost every game - the now 36-year-old became world champion in 2014.

He famously climbed onto the table after winning gold in Brazil in 2016.

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