IT has been a busy year for table tennis starlet Karina Le Fevre and after turning 21 last week she is hoping to cap it off with a Commonwealth Games medal.

Le Fevre was at the Games in Delhi four years ago but now a little older and wiser – and a year into a Law degree at Teeside University – ambitions are high.

The 21-year-old is waiting for her chance to hit the ground running in Glasgow, after watching from the bench as England recorded back-to-back wins – against Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago – in the team event yesterday.

One more win this morning will see them top the group and progress straight to the quarter-finals and Le Fevre is praying for a late birthday present – a call to arms from head coach Nick Jarvis.

“Our aim is to win, so whatever the coach thinks is best and we just try and help each other get to the highest level we can be,” she said.

“It was my birthday last Thursday and I went home for a couple of days.

We were here before and training for three days, got used to the village, then went home for a couple of days and it just happened to fall on my birthday.”

The men’s team have got off to a similarly productive start, also winning their first two clashes without dropping a game.

Paul Drinkhall has been behind much of that success, claiming two singles and two doubles wins as England beat Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

The 24-year-old, who will also have an eye on both the singles and doubles titles later in the Games, is relieved the wait is over.

He said: “The team event comes first and I will put everything I’ve got into that and then I think I get a day off so I can have a bit of a rest and re-focus for singles, doubles and mixed doubles.”