One of Barrow Table Tennis Club’s bright prospects will be travelling to Northern Ireland next month to represent her country.

Ten-year-old Sophie Ackred has been selected by England to take part in the Primary Schools Home International Championships, which will take place at Lisburn Racquets Club, near Belfast, from 5-7 April.

The Dane Ghyll pupil is part of a squad of eight (made up of four girls and four boys) that will be facing players from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey in team and individual events.

It is Sophie’s first experience of the competition, which takes place every year around the home countries.

Her father Paul, who is a coach with Barrow Table Tennis Club and helps out their younger members at training sessions at St Bernard’s Catholic High School, cannot wait to take her across the Irish Sea.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to it. It’ll be interesting to see the standard between the different countries and see how she does.

“She’s putting in the effort – we’re training her four or five times a week to get her ready for it and straight after that she’s got the English Schools competition and then in June, she’ll be in the national finals. Both of those are in Wolverhampton.

“She’s actually also got the under-12 national cup at Blackpool, so she’s got four big competitions coming up.”

Sophie started playing table tennis four years ago when she started practicing with Paul and has been playing in competitions for the last two years.

The Barrow starlet is making a big impression at under-11 level, which follows a successful 2018 that saw her win a silver medal at the under-10s National Table Tennis Championship.

Sophie admits her England call-up came as a big surprise, saying: “Dad told me after school, one day. I’m looking forward to going a lot.

“I really enjoy table tennis because I get to see all my friends and go to a lot of competitions.

“I didn’t think it was going to be this year, I thought this might happen when I was a bit older.”