Bayley faces tough competition in the men's class seven event as 11 of the players currently ranked in the top 12 are from Europe, including the man who beat him to gold at London 2012 - Jochen Wollmert of Germany.

The 25-year-old is currently ranked number two in the world and has already won gold medals in Italy and Slovenia this year.

"Training has been going really well the last few weeks and I feel that I am playing the best I have all season," Bayley said.

"I always seem to be able to peak for the big tournaments so I'm hoping that I can carry that on, push on next week and really do well.

"It will be tough and there will be no easy matches but I know what I have to do to win so I just want to do it again."

Fellow London 2012 medallists Paul Davies, Aaron McKibbin, Sara Head and Jane Campbell are also included in a squad for the continental tournament, which takes place in the Italian village from September 28 to October 5.

Paralympic bronze medallists Head and Campbell will be defending their European title in the women's class three team event, as well as both looking for success in singles competitions.

Sara Head and Jane Campbell will be defending their European title in the women's
class three team event


"It would mean the world to successfully defend our title," Head explained.

"I still remember the feeling when we won gold two years ago so to win it again would make me ecstatic.

"We put pressure on ourselves because we want to do better and better and improve all the time and hopefully we can use the experience from London against the other teams in the Europeans.

"Training has been fantastic - we had a great training camp in Slovenia in August and I'm feeling really prepared and looking forward to going now."

Other London 2012 Paralympians David Wetherill, Paul Karabardak, Rob Davies, Kim Daybell and former Commonwealth champion Sue Gilroy also feature on the team, while promising young players Jack Hunter-Spivey, Ashley Facey Thompson and Felicity Pickard complete the British contingent.

"We have had a good preparation for the European Championships," said GB performance director Gorazd Vecko.

"Training has been going well and the athletes have been working very hard.

"It will be a tough competition as Europe has many of the top players in the world in all the classes we will be competing in and we have a young team but we will hope to use the experience of London 2012 and bring back some medals."

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