A YOUNG Ledbury badminton player has emerged as one of the stars of a national circuit tournament at Reading for young players from around the country.

Chad Warren has now become the first Herefordshire under-11 player to achieve success at a national level.

He gained a win and a runners-up spot in his under-11 category and also reached the quarter-finals of the under-13 singles as he lost just two of 17 matches in a gruelling nine-year period.

In the under-11 singles, which featured 51 entries, Warren beat the number two seed in the group stages and then the nationally-ranked number four in the semi-finals before losing to the national champion in the final.

Warren teamed up with Buckinghamshire’s Charlie Castle for the under-11 doubles and, in a competition which featured 16 pairs, came through a tough group and semi-final before beating the national champion and his partner 2-0 in the final.

Exhaustion finally took over in the under-13 competition where, after winning five straight matches, the Herefordshire Badminton Academy player went out to the eventual finalist at the last-eight stage.