Former Paralympic table tennis champion Will Bayley has vowed to "cement" his legacy by passing on "strength and resilience" to the next generation of players; he spoke to Sky Sports about how he cultivated international success and his recent fundraising efforts
Monday 10 July 2023 13:51, UK
Former Paralympic table tennis champion Will Bayley has vowed to "cement" his legacy by passing on "strength and resilience" to the next generation of players.
Bayley claimed a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, an achievement that earned an MBE in the 2017 New Year Honours list, but at the age of 35, he now hopes to become an inspirational role model in a new era for the sport.
"I'm getting older, and I feel like this is my time to really cement my legacy and try and become a great, not just in table tennis, but also in Paralympic history.
"From a selfish point of view, it's just nice to leave a legacy. I have two young children and I want them to see what I've done in table tennis, not just what medals I won.
"My strength, determination, resilience - I want all my young players to have that too, and that's my legacy. That's what I want to leave behind."
That much was apparent in his 24-hour 'Ping-Pong-a-Thon' fundraising tournament held at the Brighton Table Tennis Club.
"It was quite a long session," he joked, "but we've got so many amazing young players coming through, we just wanted to raise as much money as we could to try and help them.
"That was really what it was for, trying to raise money for them, and we raised quite a bit."
Did they manage to hit their target?
"We always want to raise more, but we got £2300, and that'll be going towards the training camps."
Since speaking to Sky Sports News on Monday morning, that number has increased to over £2700.
Bayley, who developed a reputation for wild celebrations by jumping into the arms of GB coach Gorazd Vecko after winning his London 2012 semi-final, admitted that his own path to success wasn't an unaided affair.
"I was so lucky growing up, I had so many opportunities to go to these tournaments, I was supported by clubs and UK Sport.
I know how important it is to have this funding so I just want to give them the best opportunities they can have.
"It's so competitive now, sport is so competitive, Paralympic table tennis is so competitive, so I want to give them a bit of a head start."
Bayley had a difficult start to life after being born with a condition called arthrogryposis that caused severe arthritis in all four of his limbs.
Things then took a turn for the worse when at the age of seven, he was diagnosed with cancer. However, it was within the depths of his illness that he discovered his love for table tennis.
"My mum found a lump in my neck, and next thing I know, I was being treated for blood cancer at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
"My grandma bought me a table, and I fell in love with it, it was the only sport I could beat my brother in. I thought, 'I'm going to carry on with this!'
"Overcoming the cancer and the disability has made me a better sportsman, and more determined to be successful."
