QUATFORD table tennis ace Damien Nicholls produced his best form so far to reach the semi-final stage of the English National Under-21 Championships.
Nicholls, ranked ninth, caused the upset of the day by comfortably beating Surrey’s England number two Darius Knight by four sets to one.
Knight – who won the national title from 2005-2008 and is the face of Nintendo’s table tennis game – is Nicholls’ England team mate, as they live and train full-time at the National Academy at the English Sports Institute in Sheffield.
Nicholls’ semi-final against Gavin Evans (Nottinghamshire) was a closely fought affair which he lost 3-2. His encouraging performances have been followed by a pledge from Nicholls to return next year. He also lost to Evans in the mens’ open, reaching the last 16, before losing 4-1.
Nicholls, 19, reached the last eight in the mixed doubles with England number five Emma Vickers (Notts) before losing 3-2.
And he got through to the last 16 of the mens’ doubles with England number 11 David Meads (Durham) before losing to the number two seeds.
Following the matches, Nicholls’ coach and mentor, Alex Perry, a former English national champion, said that the Quatford player has showed great mental strength to produce the results at this level.
Nicholls’ next event will be the Jersey Open on April 4 and he will then represent England in the Luxembourg Senior Open Championships.
