CRAIG Allen – a Para table tennis athlete from Bromsgrove – has been selected in the British Pathway squad for the ITTF Costa Brava Spanish Para Open this week.
Allen competes in class 9 – which consists of athletes with mild impairments of the leg(s) or playing arm, or severe impairments of the non-playing arm, or mild cerebral palsy with hemiparesis or monoplegia.
The 27-year-old made his international debut back in 2014 and his biggest success to date was winning gold in the men’s class 9 singles at the Romania International Junior Open in 2017.
He also won silver in the men’s class 9 singles at the Ciutat del Prat Junior Open in Spain that same year having started playing the sport whilst on holiday in Tenerife at the age of nine.
At 16-years-old, Allen decided to focus his career on table tennis and started competing in Para table tennis from the age of 18/19.
He is currently a member of the British Para table tennis team Pathway squad, which is one level below Britain’s Performance squad.
Britain have sent a team of 11 Performance squad athletes over to Spain with nine members of the BPTT Pathway squad – including Allen – joining them in Catalonia.
The ITTF Costa Brava Spanish Para Open in Platja d’Aro takes place between October 14-16.
