By James Crook

Will Bayley in actionMay 20 - London 2012 Paralympic table tennis silver medallist Will Bayley is aiming for his third gold medal of 2013 at the Slovakian Open, which is due to start on Wednesday (May 22).

Bayley (pictured) has been in top form this year, winning gold at both the Lignano Masters Open in March and at the Slovenian Open earlier this month and regaining his spot as world number one in his class.

With the Class 7 world number two and previous top-ranked player Mykhaylo Popov set to compete in Slovakia as well as world number three Maxym Nikolenko, Bayley faces a tough task in Bratislava, but one he is confident of overcoming.

"I was really happy to win in Slovenia," said the reigning European Champion.

"I wasn't playing my best so it made it even more special as I had to fight hard to win.

"I've had a good week of training since then and I feel like I'm playing better.

"Slovakia will be tough with the number two and three in the world but it will be good to get more experience against them before the European Championships."

151198330London 2012 bronze medallist Paul Davies will be going for glory in Slovenia this week

Also in the British delegation at the Slovakian Open are London 2012 bronze medalist Paul Davies and European silver medalist Paul Karabardak, who will team up with Bayley in the class 7 teams event.

Youngsters Ashley Facey Thompson and Jack Hunter-Spivey complete the British squad for the Slovenian Open.

GB Performance Director Gorazd Vecko said: "We have had a really good training camp in Slovenia and training with good players from other countries will help our players to improve.

"The competition in Slovakia will be strong but we need to play against the best players and it will be really good preparation for the European Championships in September."

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