After battling back from 0-2 and match point down in his semi-final encounter with French rival Jean-Francois Ducay, Davies, who is also European Class One champion, pushed past Italy's Andrea Borgato 3-1 to seal the first of two British golds in Slovenia.

"Winning the Europeans last year has helped me mentally," said Davies, who failed to qualify for the knockout phase at London 2012.

"The disappointment in London was what made me play well last year - it made me more steely.

"I have had some close wins since then and they boost my confidence.

"This was my first real test since becoming world number one so to have won it was great.

"It shows I can do it and stay there.

"I didn't play that well in the final to be honest but I came through it and that's the main thing.

"I didn't care how I won I just wanted to get it done.

"Really proud to have come through and my family will be really happy as well.

Will Bayley secured the second of Britain's gold medals as he fought back from 2-1 down to beat Spain's Jordi Morales ©Getty Images


It also took a comeback for Britain's world number two Will Bayley to come out on top of his Class Seven encounter with Spain's Jordi Morales.

The Briton began the day with a 3-1 win over Sayed Youssef, the Egyptian he beat in the final here last year, before cruising to a 3-0 victory over Germany's Thorsten Schwinn in the semi-final.

Despite taking the early initiative in the final, Bayley lost the next two games and faced two match points in the fourth.

The Paralympic and European silver medallist dug in deep from here however, taking the fourth game 13-11 before thrashing the Spanish world number four 11-3 in the decider.

"It was a brilliant match to play in because Jordi is such a fighter and he never makes it comfortable," said Bayley

"I knew it was going to be a tough match because he was playing really well and I was really pleased to come through it especially from match points down.

"I think I left it a bit late but when he had the match point I thought I'm going to go for it now because if I don't I'm going to lose anyway and when I managed to pull through that fourth set I knew that it had taken a lot out of him."

Alongside the two gold medals, British athletes also picked up three bronze with Paul Davies, David Wetherill and Jane Campbell each collecting a medal.

Paul Davies sealed one of three British bronze medals after losing in the semi-final to Andrea Borgato ©Getty Images



Former European silver medallist and London 2012 bronze medallist, Davies, added to the medal count in Class One as he progressed to the semi-final with victory over Argentinian Fernando Eberhardt.

Despite losing his semi-final encounter to silver medallist Andrea Borgato, in a repeat of the European Championships semi-final which Davies won, the Welshman was happy to take bronze on his return to competition following injury.

"To get a bronze after coming back from injury can't be bad so I'm not disappointed," said Davies.

"I'll take the positives from here into the next tournament in Slovakia next week."

Wetherill came through his quarter-final against the American Ari Arratia 3-0 and then lost out in a very close match against the world number two and reigning European champion Peter Rosenmeier, the Danish player winning 11-9 in the fifth.

Campbell was already assured of a bronze medal after her determined performance yesterday and found Michela Brunelli just too strong in her semi-final, the Italian taking the match 3-1.

Competition continues in Slovenia until Saturday (May 10) with the men's and women's team events.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
April 2014: World number one Davies heads British Para table tennis team for European Opens