READING'S Felix Thomis acquitted himself well as he took on the best young players in the country at the Cadet National Cup.

The tournament sees the top 10 players on the Table Tennis England rankings play each other on a round-robin basis to decide the champion.

Thomis, 13, was seeded eighth for the event in Corby and that is the position he finished with after picking up two victories.

He also had some near misses in other matches, including having a match point against eventual bronze medallist Thomas Rayner before going down 4-3 (11-7, 11-3, 5-11, 8-11, 11-13, 13-11, 11-9).

Thomis, who attends Ackworth School in Yorkshire, said: “Some matches were really good, but there’s still a lot of room to improve. I think I can learn to keep my head stronger and keep to tactics, especially in tight points.

“I think the match against Tom was my best even though I lost – it was close and I played a lot better.”

In the girls' event, Kendrick School student Anaya Patel, who is from Basingstoke, was seeded second and won the silver medal, losing only to top seed and champion Ruby Chan.

l MARK Banks, Richard Rosinski and Martin Adams all got trebles as Kingfisher B won 10-0 at home to Tidmarsh B in Division One of the Reading & District League.

Andy Wang and Nigel Maltby got maximums as Sonning Common & Peppard B won 8-2 at Milestone, while Curzon Club A had another good week as they beat Tidmarsh A 6-4, in-form Jon Willis with another treble.

Julian Teford’s maximum and a double from Cath Venning saw Kennet Valley Free Church A beat Sonning Common & Peppard C 6-4.

Kingfisher A took a huge step towards clinching the title by winning 10-0 at third-placed Sonning Common & Peppard A, Dmitry Karkhamov, Sagar Sawant and Hari Gehlot all with maximums, while a Phil Mead treble helped Kingfisher C move up to third after winning 7-3 against clubmates Kingfisher D.

In Division Two, leaders Springfield A won 8-2 against Our Lady of Peace B. Ludovic Coulliard with a treble, and Curzon Club B were nudged nearer to relegation after losing 7-3 at Our Lady of Peace C, Binit Bhaskar with a maximum.

Alan Mollet’s treble helped Sonning Common & Peppard D beat Kingfisher F 6-4, Angus Jones with two wins.

Tilehurst Methodists A were 6-4 winners at Sonning Sports A, while John Simmonds three-straight treble saw Pangbourne WMC win 6-4 at Kingfisher E, Clive Taylor winning twice for Pangbourne.

In a top-of-the-table clash in Division Three, Kingfisher G beat Springfield B 6–4, David Wells and Nils Wedii both winning two each for Kingfisher.

A hat-trick from Spencer Harvey helped Tidmarsh C win 7-3 at Sonning Common & Peppard E, while a first maximum of the season from Simon Brookes helped Our Lady of Peace D beat Curzon Club C 8–2.

Curzon, though, eased their relegation fears by comprehensively beating bottom side Kingfisher H 10–0 with Geoff Johnson, Jim Brent and Derek Harrison all getting trebles. For Brent, it was his first since January 2011.

Kingfisher H shared the spoils with Sonning Sports B as they drew 5-5, with Ken Robb and Peter Bennett for the birds and for Sonning Sally James all winning two each.

Anthony Alleyne was in good form to help Reading FC A win 6-4 at Springfield C by winning all three, while Tidmarsh D held the leaders Tilehurst Methodists B to a draw thanks mainly to a stunning three-straight treble gained by Terry Hardie.

Oliver Bonser won two for Milestone C in their 7-3 defeat against Division Four leaders Our Lady of Peace E, Ralph Philips with a maximum for the table-toppers.

Tilehurst Methodists C continued their pursuit of the leaders with an 8-2 victory over Springfield D, Roy Hull and Steve Wood both recording trebles.

Joe Bull and Derek Anderson both recorded maximum as third-placed Reading FC B ran out 7-3 winners over Sonning Sports C.

Sonning Common & Peppard G could only field two players and although Jim Warren recorded his first maximum they subsequently lost 7-3 to Tidmarsh E.

Kennet Valley Free Church B lost 8-2 against a strong Kingfisher I team, Russ Moores earning their two points, while Sandeep Burande recorded a further maximum for Kingfisher.

In recording his first maximum this year, Marcello Caramma helped Springfield E draw 5-5 with Sonning Common & Peppard F, while for the Commoners, Mike Casserley and Julian James each won twice.

Reading FC B and Kennet Valley Free Church B finally played their twice-postponed match, Kennet Valley victorious 6-4 despite a further maximum for Joe Bull. Lewis Oke and Steve Christelow both recorded doubles.