Wandsworth’s Paralympian table tennis star Aaron McKibbin was disappointed in defeat, but upbeat in his performance at the ITTF Para Table Tennis World Championships in Beijing.
The 22-year-old went out of the men’s singles class 8 at the last 16 stage on Tuesday, after coming through his round robin group in second place.
He went down 3-1 to China’s Churen Sun, the man who beat McKibbin in the group stages at London 2012.
McKibbin said: “I’m disappointed in the result obviously but I thought I played well.
“He beat me easily in London but I feel like here today in this singles event, in my first Worlds, I’ve given a good account of myself.
“I can go away positive that everything is going in the right direction. I believe in the way I’m playing now I feel like it won’t be long until my level will be up there and I can use that confidence in the team event.”
McKibbin reached the knock-out stages by beating Marcin Skrzynecki from Poland 3-2 in his final round robin tie, having lost to Ukraine’s Viktor Didukh in the opening tie (3-1).
It was touch and go against Skrynecki, with McKibbin having to battle back from 2-0 down.
He said: “I was struggling and playing quite passively, and I felt really nervous.
“But once I clawed that third set back it relaxed me and I had the momentum.
“I’ve been in that situation a lot of times and I knew that I had to stick to my game plan and kept telling myself to at least try and play positive and make him beat me rather than lose it myself.”
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