Knight Hopes Tale of Adversity Inspires the Next Generation of Table Tennis Stars

Amidst the hundreds of youngsters in the stunning surroundings of the Business Design Centre in Angel is one man hoping to inspire the next generation of table tennis hopefuls. Darius Knight is the perfect example of how sport can help transform a life. Growing up in a rough estate in Battersea, not even his closest friends or family would have believed that he would be in with a very real chance of representing Great Britain at the London Olympics.

Table tennis is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK, with the recent Fred Perry Urban Cup attracting some 100,000 youngsters from across the country to participate. To many of these teenagers, Knight represents the prime example of how far the sport can take you.

However, it has not been an easy journey for the 21-year-old. Knight recently lost his funding and admitted that he is heavily relying on the support of his coaches, friends and family to fund his dream of representing his country at a home Olympics in 2012.

“I’m really struggling at the minute,” explains the Londoner. “Everyone is helping me out by lending me money and without them I wouldn’t be able to compete. It is tough as I have been achieving the right results and we have been a bit unlucky with funding.

“I am trying to move abroad where I can find a cheaper lifestyle. The plan is to move to Austria as I am heading there in January to do some training and hopefully I can find a club while I’m there.”

The prospect of moving abroad at such a young age would perhaps be daunting for the vast majority of young men, yet Knight is not the type to give up in the face of adversity. At 15-years-old he decided to quit school, a decision that did not sit well with his mum who gave him an ultimatum; return to his studies of find somewhere else to live.

Knight, who was the European number two in his age category, decided to move to Bristol where he lived on a friend’s sofa for the next two years. His continued success at youth level brought sponsorship and the opportunity to earn a living playing the sport he so clearly loves.

“I got my first sponsorship deal at fifteen and within a couple of years I started to receive funding and was able to move to Sheffield with the rest of the British team. It was a great opportunity, but to be perfectly honest I did get a bit complacent. I certainly didn’t realise how easy I had it until the funding was taken away.”

Knight is brutally honest in reflecting on his career to date. He realises that he has made some mistakes, but is determined to help the next generation have the best opportunity possible of becoming a success. The club in Battersea where Knight learned his trade has long since been destroyed and he is aware that the youngsters on his old estate will struggle to stay out of trouble.

“Society has got to help kids and provide facilities for them,” tells Knight, who speaks with passion about inspiring young table tennis players. “We need more academies and incentives to keep them interested in the sport. A lot of my friends got bored and I was extremely lucky to not get involved in drugs or crime.

“It meant everything to me to receive even £20 for making the quarter-final of a tournament, but there are teenagers on my old estate making twice that amount selling drugs. You have to keep them stimulated and show them that they can make a success of themselves.”

Knight is currently ranked 261st in the world and his best opportunity of making Team GB is via one of the host nation places given out by British selectors to make up the male squad. While many athletes dream of personal glory, it seems the likeable young star is determined to use the occasion to capture the imagination

“Everybody in south London knew me because of my family and there was an expectation that I would make the same mistakes they did. I saw things I really shouldn’t have when I was young, but I don’t smoke, I rarely drink and the Olympics is just a great way to inspire people.”

Should Knight be one of the fortunate athletes handed the chance to compete in London then he will have his mum to thank. Not only was she the one responsible for setting him on the straight and narrow, she is the sole reason he dedicated himself to the sport.

“I’ve never really admitted this before but the main reason I got into the sport is that my mum had aspirations of me becoming a dancer,” he reveals. “She used to take me to a dance school, but I wasn’t the best mover so when I got bored I would watch the kids playing table tennis.

“Then when I got slightly better I used to come home from tournaments and I would actually be crying asking her why I kept losing. Luckily she helped convince me to stick with it.”

With a number of youth titles already to his name, Knight knows that to truly be an inspiration then he must continue to improve and gain more media attention. This of course would be most easily achieved by performing well at the Olympics. It is no simple task, but the charismatic youngster with a remarkable story has already overcome many obstacles. It would certainly not shock anyone should he cause an upset in London next year.

Darius Knight is an ambassador for the Fred Perry Urban Cup, an initiative that has got 120,000 youngsters in urban areas of the country playing table tennis. The Urban Cup is supported by Fred Perry, the Premier League and the English Table Tennis Association.