Billingham ace Joe Clark took on the best young players in England at the Cadet Masters and came away with a silver medal.
The 14-year-old Northfield School student was seeded fourth for the event, which brought together the top 12 players in the Table Tennis England Cadet rankings to play against each other on a round-robin basis over the best of five sets.
He had a brilliant first day and was one of only two boys who won all six matches.
The pivotal clash was in the eighth round of matches when Clark met the other unbeaten player, No 1 seed Alex Ramsden.
Things looked good when he took the first set 14-12, but Ramsden found his best form to turn it around and win 3-1 (12-14, 11-8, 11-3, 11-9).
Ramsden went on to finish unbeaten and claim the gold medal, while Clark won all his remaining matches to take the silver. Ethan Walsh, the seventh seed, won the bronze.
A delighted Clark said: “I played quite well, I’m happy with where I finished.
“I just kept focused and tried to do the best I could in every match.
“I didn’t really have any expectations before the event, I kept an open mind.
“I would have been happy to finish above fourth, which is where I was expected to come, but I did better than that, so I’m quite happy.”
Also competing at the event were Sophie Barlow of Billingham and Holly Williams of Stockton – seeded No 3 and No 12 respectively in the girls’ event.
They met in the first round, and it was Williams who prevailed, winning it 3-1 (11-8, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8).
Barlow, who also attends Northfield School, never really recovered from her poor start, finishing ninth with three victories.
And Conyers School pupil Williams never quite hit the heights of that first match as she finished 11th with two victories.
Barlow said: “I just wasn’t on my game. I made a slow start and it carried on like that.”
Williams said: “It hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to go and I haven’t been able to perform as well as I can.
“A lot of the others are a bit more experienced and that helps them with their game plans.
“My first three matches were quite good, especially when I beat Sophie.
“We’re from the same club and are close friends, but you’ve got to forget about that and go out there to win.”
Ormesby player Harry Dai, from Hull, was No 2 seed in the boys’ event but had a poor weekend by his standards, winning four matches and finishing eighth.
“I gave it my best shot but sometimes you have a bad day, it happens,” said the 14-year-old.
“The best match I played was probably against Joe Clark.
“I lost, but at least I managed to give him a good game.”
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