A POOLE-BORN athlete has won gold for Great Britain at the Rio Paralympic Games.

Table tennis star Will Bayley, who was a silver medallist at London 2012, celebrated his win yesterday by jumping on the table before hugging the umpire.

The 28-year-old beat Brazil’s Israel Pereira Stroh 3-1 in the men’s class 7 final.

An emotional Bayley told Channel 4: “Great Britain were laughed at when I first joined the squad, but now we’ve shown what we can do – we’re a force.”

It was ParalympicsGB’s first medal on Monday as David Weir missed out on a medal after coming fifth in the men’s 400m T54 final.

Bayley was born with arthrogryposis, a rare congenital disorder that affected all four of his limbs.

He underwent numerous operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital from the age of three months old.

He began playing table tennis after recovering from chemotherapy aged seven after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Stroh, a journalist by trade who has cerebral palsy, won a group contest between the pair 3-1.

Bayley had a partisan crowd on his side four years ago, but this time it was Stroh who had the spectators' backing.

The Briton initially upset them, winning the first set 11-9, but Stroh responded in a quick-fire second, taking it 11-5.

Bayley had regular discussions with the officials throughout, although it was unclear what his complaint was.

With the crowd against Bayley and trying to unsettle him, Stroh stumbled early in the third set as the pair crossed paths going to speak to their coaches. It was accidental.

The moment seemed to galvanise Bayley, who took the third set to move within one of victory.

And Bayley dominated the final set to claim a sensational win.