PAUL DRINKHALL’S chances of securing an automatic ranking place for this summer’s Olympic Games received a major boost when he helped England’s men’s team claim a shock bronze medal at the World Team Table tennis Championships.

Drinkhall, who is from Cleveland, appeared at the last Olympics in London, but was only able to secure a place because of Britain’s status as the host nation.

If he is to appear in Rio this summer, he will have to qualify by right, and his chances have increased significantly after England claimed a World Team medal for the first time in more than half-a-century.

Drinkhall joined team-mates Liam Pitchford and Sam Walker in Kuala Lumpur, and while England lost 3-1 to Japan in the semi-finals, they still became the first nation in history to claim a World Championships podium place in the tournament immediately after they were promoted to the top division.

Drinkhall said: “It’s amazing. We just keep looking at each other and thinking, ‘We’ve got a medal!’ It’s something you think about but you don’t really see it happening – we just took our chance and made it happen.”

England made a slow start with defeats to France and Sweden, but victory over second seeds Germany turned the tide and – with a helping hand from the Swedes later – they qualified from the group stage.

“I think the win against Germany was the turning point, even then we needed Sweden to take two wins off Germany, which they did,” said Drinkhall.

“For us to get through the group was a big positive and we relaxed after that and started to play a lot better.”

England beat Poland in the first play-off round and then got revenge for the group defeat against France, winning 3-2 thanks to a dramatic victory by Drinkhall, who triumphed 13-11 in the deciding game of the deciding match against Emmanuel Lebesson. The North-Easterner missed four match points, then saved one before eventually closing out the match.

Drinkhall said: “In games like that, it is mental. We play at the same club and know each other’s games well. We’re at a similar level. I managed to build up a lead and he did well to stay in the game, though I should have closed it out. When he had the match point I just tried to put him under pressure and then I got the two points I needed.

“We had the belief as a team and looking at my team-mates on the bench and the supporters in the crowd helped me to get through it.”

Thornaby’s Karina Le Fevre also competed for England’s women in Kuala Lumpur, alongside Kelly Sibley and Tin-Tin Ho. Wins over Turkey (3-1), Belgium (3-1), New Zealand (3-0) and Canada (3-1) saw England joint top of their group in the second division at that stage, but they were then beaten 3-1 by the division’s top seeds, Serbia, in the final group match.

It meant a tie against Puerto Rico in the first play-off round and, despite Sibley’s two victories, England were beaten 3-2.