PAUL DRINKHALL is hoping to complete a momentous month when he competes at the World Table Tennis Championships, which begin in Dusseldorf on Monday.

The Teessider and his family – wife Jo and children Dougie and Bonnie – moved into a new home earlier this month, and will be at the wedding of Paul’s brother, Bryn, this weekend.

In between, he attended a training camp in Sweden along with team-mates Liam Pitchford, Sam Walker and David McBeath to complete his preparations for the Worlds.

It has been a hectic period, but the Commonwealth gold medallist is hoping to turn that to his advantage.

“There’s quite a few important life things going on around preparation for the Worlds,” said Drinkhall, who hails from Loftus. “But that can actually help because it means I can focus when I’m in the training hall, but I’m not over-thinking the table tennis at other times, which I tend to do. I feel in a place where I can go there and play really well.”

Drinkhall returned from last year’s Worlds with a team bronze medal, along with team-mates Pitchford and Walker. This year’s event features an individual rather than a team competition, meaning winning a medal will be a much tougher task for the 27-year-old, who is currently ranked number 46 in the world.

He is exempt from the qualifying rounds though, and will be seeded straight into the main draw for the singles.

Last year’s bronze medal, coupled with reaching the last 16 of the Rio Olympics, gives Drinkhall a lot of belief that he can compete with the best, although he admits others countries are now more wary of him and the other English players.

“Obviously the Chinese players are the ones to beat, but after that it’s quite open now,” he said. “There are a lot of good players and we are among them. It’s all to play for.

I think me and Liam were on people’s radar, but now we are more as a team and I think people look out for us a bit more. We have to go out there and do it though.

As well as the singles, Drinkhall will also play in the men’s doubles alongside Pitchford. The draw takes place on Saturday, and the competition starts on Monday.

Meanwhile, Stockton’s Karina Le Fevre is the Grand Prix Series champion for the fourth time at the end of an impressive domestic season.

The England international picked up the most points in the eight-series event, with her final outing seeing her lose to Hannah Hicks in the final of last weekend’s tournament in London. “I’ve only won one Grand Prix this year, but I’ve got to a lot of finals,” said Le Fevre.