A YOUNG table tennis star showed he was made of strong stuff after he recovering from a dizzy spell to be crowned national champion.
Harry Dai, 13, of Cottingham, secured victory over the weekend at the Table Tennis England 2013-14 Under-11s to 14s National Championships in Doncaster.
But it was not all plain sailing for Harry, who also scooped national titles in 2011-12 and 2012-13, and he was forced to dig deep.
Top seed Harry, a pupil at St Mary's College in north Hull, lost to sixth seed Joseph Clark in the older age group.
His father, Xiudian Dai, said: "A loss is a loss and Harry was magnanimous. He had been drinking water, but he had not eaten anything and he suffered from blurred vision. We think his blood sugar dropped. It's an important lesson learned.
"I am immensely proud of Harry.
"All the pressure was on him to defend his title.
"It's a lot of pressure for someone so young."
But Harry, once he had regained his composure, got down to business to repeat his success from 2012-13 when he won the under-12s.
Harry said: "I was quite shocked. I was thinking it was going to be the year I'd lose."
His knockout progress was particularly dynamic, with comfortable victories over Branislav Zivkovic, Will Ibbitson and Ethan Walsh, before meeting Shayan Siraj at the final hurdle.
The contest between Harry and Shayan extended deep into a fifth end with excellent, combative rallies that highlighted a superb level of performance.
Despite the title appearing in Shayan's grasp at 10-7 up in the fifth, Harry denied his opponent a first national title by claiming five straight points to win.
Harry said: "I wasn't really expecting to come back from 10-7 down.
"The key was not to go for the ball when it's not there, and keep working until the right ball comes."
Meanwhile, Swanland Primary School pupil Jasmin Wong, who plays at Hull YPI Sports Centre, claimed the under-11 girls' crown.
