For Loughborough College athletes Ross Wilson and Aaron McKibbin it was a repeat of 2012 as the men’s table tennis team clinched bronze on day nine in Rio.
The trio of Wilson, McKibbin and Will Bayley, the same team that competed four years ago in the class 6-8, secured a second successive Paralympic Games bronze with a 2-1 victory in a nail-biting clash against China.
The doubles pairing of Loughborough College Sport students Wilson and McKibbin gave ParalympicsGB the early advantage, racing to a 2-0 lead in the first match.
But China’s Zhao Shuai and Ye Chaoqun brought it back to 2-2, before the Brits narrowly clinched the decisive game 11-9 to win 3-2 and take the lead in the match.
In the second match, Wilson faced Shuai, but it proved to be a difficult encounter as the class 8 singles gold medallist raced to wrap up a 3-1 win over the Brit in just 26 minutes.
McKibbin went on to secure the medal for ParalympicsGB, clinching a 3-2 victory over Sun Churen in the final clash of the decisive match.
"We have a special belief and we believed we were going to do this today,” said McKibbin.
“It was a hard loss yesterday and we came back and we performed to our level and we showed it out there."
Wilson added: "We really wanted to start well and from the go we went out there and gave it absolutely everything. I can't believe we've done it."
Bayley, who played in the earlier rounds and adds to his singles class 7 gold, said: "It was agony to watch and I feel drained. They were superb - we've come through a lot in this tournament and have had to beat some good teams so overall it has been fantastic for us and I'm proud of the boys - they held their nerve."
The table tennis team bronze took the 2016 Paralympic Games medal tally for athletes from Loughborough College to nine, including five gold, with two days still to go in Brazil.
Paralympics GB broke the 50 gold medal mark on day nine - only the third time in British Paralympic history the team has done so and the first since the British Paralympic Association was formed in 1989.
The team surpassed the gold medal count won at Beijing (42) on Wednesday 14 September. As a result, the team’s performance in Rio will be the highest gold medal haul since Seoul in 1988, 28 years ago.
On Saturday, Loughborough College student Julie Rogers returns to the Paralympic Games to compete in the T42 100m while former student Ellie Simmonds hopes to add to the Beijing gold and London silver she won in the 100m freestyle S6 - although she will face competition from European bronze medalist and teammate Ellie Robinson.
Loughborough College students Ross Wilson and Aaron McKibbin (pictured) win men's table tennis team class 6-8 bronze with Will Bayley at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games