TALENTED Michael Siket came within one point of winning the English National Under 11s Championships.

The 10-year-old son of former Worcester City and county champion Lewis Siket, was on the brink of defeating second seed John Pilgrim at the University of East Anglia when he led 11-10 in the fourth set.

However, his Nottinghamshire opponent managed to salvage that set before completing victory in the next.

After qualifying in his group, Sike reached the quarter-final where he played number six seed Ewen Stevenson of Surrey.

The match proved a tough contest but Siket prevailed 3-1.

In the semi-final, he came up against top seed Helsham Weersinghe of Sussex who had beaten Siket at the same stage of the English Schools Champ-ionships earlier this year.

On this occasion, however, and after some very close and exciting rallies, Siket took the match 3-1 after being 10-6 down in the fourth set.

Pilgrim, who had also beaten Siket earlier this year, was taken all the way in the final. Siket, who plays for St George's in Division One of the Worcetsr League, took the first set 15-13, lost the second 11-8 and won the third 11-5 with some great counter-hitting.

At 11-10 up in the fourth set and within one point of winning the title, Siket hit what appeared to be a winning drive but his opponent's return just clipped the edge of the table to level the score.

Siket then lost the next two points and Pilgrim regained his confidence in the fifth set to take the match and the title 11-4.

The youngster also reached the last 16 of the under 12s competition.

Siket defeated several good older players before coming up against number one seed Zak Zilennick of Middlesex.

After winning the first two sets, it looked as if Siket was going to cause an upset.

However, Zilennick recovered and won the game in five sets.