A YOUNG table tennis player from Gainford has been adding to a growing list of achievements in recent weeks.

David Meads, a modest and unassuming 14-year-old, won the cadet singles title in last weekend's Derby 4 Star select tournament to reach an unassailable number one position in the Jarvis Grand Prix series.

He also took second place in the junior event and chalked up a staggering 15 wins out of 16 matches in two days.

Before that, the Darlington TTC player achieved national recognition for his continued progress with selection by the ETTA for an international tournament in Denmark.

He made an excellent England debut at the Brondby Grand Prix in Copenhagen by winning the under-15s singles and doubles titles, the latter with Cleveland's rising star Danny Reed, who was also making his England debut.

He also reached the quarter-finals of the under-18s competition and won through the group stages of the under-21s to be knocked out in the first round.

The determined youngster has also moved up from number 13 to nine in the national under-18 rankings and is ranked number four nationally in his under-15 age group.

His success in Derby saw him take the cadet title with a 3-0 final win over Reed. He reached the under-18 final as seventh seed, but was stopped by the favourite, Craig Bryant of Devon, after upsetting fourth seed, Steven Denny of Yorkshire, in the last eight.

The teenager has set himself clear targets for the coming year. He said: "I would like to win the cadet masters, capture a national title and reach number two in the cadet rankings by the end of August."

The Teesdale School pupil next travels to Saarbrucken in Germany at the end of the month to represent English schools in the world schools tournament.

He will be joined in the English team by Loftus player Paul Drinkhall, Tim Yarnall (Northants) and Bradley Evans (Bucks), who are ranked one, five and eight respectively at junior level. The opposition in Germany will include China, Russia and the Czech Republic.

David (pictured left) was also a member of County Durham's cadet team which recently took the national title and the junior team which won promotion to the premier division.

He has also played for the senior county team this season and county captain Michael Marsden said: "He is a major talent and certainly one with a very good future. For his age he is a very mature player and has progressed quickly".

The Gainford boy will contest the senior inter-county championships this weekend with every chance of yet another team success.

The support the youngster has received from his family has been a vital ingredient in his rapid progress.

They pay for all his tuition, travel, accommodation and entry fees. He receives no funding from the impoverished ETTA and even has to pay his way to the invitation-only Youth Development Squad and for national training and tournaments.

There is no doubting the teenager's commitment. He and his parents, together with older sister Joanne, herself an accomplished junior player, have had only one free weekend at home since the start of the year and the next is not until mid-June.

His mother Sharon said: "David has worked really hard and is grateful for all the help given to him. He is now so used to all the travelling, staying away, that he takes it all in his stride to concentrate on the tasks in hand."