THERE is no place like home and playing on their own patch in the Clubs for Young People's National Table Tennis finals inspired victories from young Halton stars.

Halton Table Tennis Centre, Widnes, staged the event and the host club took two of the four frontline boys' titles.

Matthew McCormick was U12s champion while U16s honours went to Michael Kwan . Josh McGiverson earned consolation success in the U14s Plate competition.

Halton Club had 10 playing the tournament with the top performer among their three girls being Stephanie Barr, runner-up in the U16s event.

More than 60 young people, aged 11 to 19, took part in the climax to a tournament open to all four home nations.

Contingents from Cheshire and Merseyside were joined by squads from Sussex, Essex, Leicestershire, Cardiff and mid-Glamorgan.

Backed by the English Table Tennis Association, and particularly Runcorn's international referee Karen Tonge, the CYP competition saw excellent play and sportsmanship.

In the climax, many raised their games to far beyond the expectation of their coaches.

Some of the finalists had already come through regional qualifiers.

A first for this year's event was the delivery, with support from Halton community coach Frank James, of ETTA junior umpire awards to 14 young people, who successfully tackled a small test paper and practical assessments.

The new junior umpires - including Michael Kwan and Josh McGiveron - officiated in the eight final ties across the age groups.

Jane Nolan, head of young people's services for CYP North said: 'We look forward to welcoming these newly-qualified officials to assist in the organisation of county, area and national events next year. A big congratulation and thanks to them all.'

She added CPY looked forward to working with the ETTA to explore further ways of developing the event and also further opportunities linked to table tennis.