Table tennis prodigy Kate Nixon, who was unseeded, de-feated the second seed on the way to the semi-finals of the English Schools’ under-16 girls’ singles at Doncaster last weekend.

The 14-year-old, who was representing Ilkley Grammar School and West Yorkshire Schools, won all the matches in her group.

That took her into the last 16, where she played Shreya Mehta, which Kate won 3-1 in games.

Next up in the quarter-finals was second seed Nicole Bird.

Undaunted, Kate played great attacking table tennis off both wings to demolish her opponent 3-0 and nail a great win.

In the semi-finals, Kate played Amy Humphreys, who is one of her rivals, and the Ilkley youngster led 2-0 in games and 7-5 in the third on the back of some stunning strokeplay.

Then Amy’s coach called a time out to disrupt Kate’s flow, and Humphrey managed to win that game and eventually the match 3-2.