Table tennis ace lands cash boost

The 15-year-old St Bede's Senior School pupil will receive a cash injection of 1,000 to help with the cost of training and competing after being selected as one of only 270 youngsters from across the UK.

King attended the London launch of the initiative at the Brit Oval, where she received masterclasses with former British Olympians Jonathan Edwards, Leon Taylor and double Paralympic champion Ellie Simmonds on sports psychology and media training.

And the former Claremont Preparatory School pupil believes the financial boost can play a major role in helping her one day realise her Olympic dream.

"My aim is still to go to London 2012 and hopefully in two years time I will have moved even further up the rankings and I will be able to get a place," said King, who plays at Weald Table Tennis Club.

"I am sure the Lloyds scheme will really help me and I will be able to keep training hard and the tips they give me at the workshops will help me as well.

"The big competition this year is the Commonwealth Games and I am on the long list of ten to go there. They will take four players and at the moment the top three have already been selected so the rest of us are fighting it out for one place."

Lloyds TSB Local Heroes is an initiative in partnership with SportsAid providing support and funding to over 270 of Britain's most talented developing athletes on their journey to London 2012 and beyond. To find out more about Lloyds TSB Local Heroes visit www.lloydstsb.com/localheroes