KIRKBY Stephen's Jake Haygarth, representing Cumbria, made it to the quarter finals of the English Schools table tennis finals in Wolverhampton.

Jake, who is still only 12 and currently ranked number 10 in England U13, qualified from his round robin group and made it through to the quarter final by beating England number 4 and number 3 seed, Oliver Maric-Murray, from Oxford, 4-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6.

He was then beaten by Todd Stanmore, who ultimately lost to Connor Green, the England number 1, in the final.

This was one of the best wins Jake has ever had and will hopefully set him up for the PG Mutual Junior and Cadet National Championships in May and the U13 Nationals in June.

Jake represents Kirkby Stephen in the Kendal & District Table Tennis League and is already the best player in the league, even though he is only aged 12.

Cumbria was represented by Nicholas Morrell, from Cartmel, in the under 11s competition.

Eight-year-old Nicholas, who attends Grange Primary School, held his own against 10 and 11-year-old opponents, winning one of his five matches and losing another very close contest, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 7-11 against his Chinese opponent, Jun Chung, from Warwickshire.

Both boys look like they have a great future in the game.