Cardiff’s Joshua Stacey believes good things are coming for him and mixed doubles partner Bly Twomey despite exiting in the table tennis quarterfinals of the Paralympics.

The 24-year-old is appearing in his second Games, but Paris 2024 marks only his and Twomey’s second tournament.

Stacey was analytical as he reflected on a 3-0 defeat to China’s Shuai Zhao and Jingdian Mao, who are both three-time Paralympic champions.

“I think they seem very comfortable as a pair as to how to navigate a game and make sure they are both getting their strengths in, and I think they did that very well,” he said, who is part of Aldi’s Nearest and Dearest programme in partnership with Team GB, helping to maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performance.

“They played the right table tennis at the right moments which obviously with the experience they have you’d expect them to.

“I wouldn’t say their quality was unbelievably good, but everything was just very solid and when they needed to they played the right balls at the right times.”

The pair caused something of an upset on the first day of competition as they convincingly beat the sixth seeds to reach the quarterfinals.

That victory moved them one win away from a medal, with passage to the semi-finals ensuring at least a bronze medal.

However, up against formidable opponents in the form of the fourth seeds from China, Stacey and Twomey were beaten by the better pair.

Twomey is just 14 but made history on Thursday as she won women’s doubles bronze alongside Fliss Pickard, the first doubles medal to be won at a Paralympic Games since 1976.

Alongside Stacey, she was not able to add a second medal to her collection from her debut Games, but the Welshman believes they have a bright future.

He added: “With this being me and Bly’s second tournament ever and with Bly being only 14 we’ve got a lot of improvement to come over the years.

“And with that and having more experience of playing with each other it will eventually come good, and we’ll be beating those kinds of players.”

Stacey won Commonwealth singles gold in 2022 before winning world silver later that same year.

He will hope to improve his performance in the men’s singles having reached the quarter-final stages in Tokyo.

The singles in the Para table tennis begin on 3 September.

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