DARLINGTON youngster Thomas Rayner confirmed his growing potential as he won the consolation event at the International Table Tennis Federation Spanish Junior and Cadet Open.

Competing in the Spanish town of Castell Platja D’Aro, 15-year-old Rayner took part in both the singles and doubles events as part of a 14-strong England team.

The Longfield Academy pupil came away with seven wins from his ten matches spread across three days of competition.

Rayner teamed up with Sheffield’s Jie Fu Tham for the under-15s doubles competition, with the pair eventually losing out to French duo Felix Lebrun and Hugo Deschamps.

In the cadet singles event, Rayner was drawn into a tough group that saw him suffer narrow defeats to Deschamps and German youngster Felix Kohler, who is ranked 240 places above him in the World rankings, as well as a comprehensive 3-0 win over Spaniard Gabriel de Oleza.

The competitors who finished third and fourth in their group entered a consolation event, and Rayner won matches against rivals from Spain, Portugal, Germany and Peru to set up a final against fellow English youngster Louis Price.

Price won the opening two games to race into a 2-0 lead, but Rayner claimed three games in a row to turn the tables and claim a 3-2 success.

He will return to action in the Table Tennis England National Championships in Nottingham this weekend, where is the fourth seed in his age category.