Fuller has the world at her feet (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Fuller has the world at her feet

9:24am Tuesday 10th July 2007 in Sport By Bill Marshall

Mary Fuller has given further notice of her growing status within table tennis by being chosen for two big international events.

The 14-year-old Oakbank School pupil has been selected for the European Youth Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia from Friday until Wednesday.

And the Stanbury teenager will then represent Great Britain in the European Youth Olympic Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, on July 23-29.

These selections came on the back of Mary winning the English Cadet Masters by triumphing in 12 of her 13 matches.

More recently, she helped England to a gold medal in the United Kingdom Schools' Table Tennis Championships in Guernsey.

Playing for England B against England A in the under-14 final, Mary and her partner Natalie Slater notched an escellent 3-0 victory.

This was Mary's second gold medal in major championships this season, and she has also lifted a silver and two bronzes.

And although most of the credit must go to Fuller herself, some is also due to her parents Nichola and Stephen and Mary's long-standing coach Hans Soova.

Mary took up table tennis seven years ago when her dad took her to an Oakbank coaching session to bring home her elder brother Stephen.

After watching, the seven-year-old said to her father: "I could play this game".

But success hasn't altered her unflappability and modesty. Soova said: "When Mary won the two-day English Masters tournament, I asked her how she felt having beaten nearly everybody so convincingly, and she thought and replied I felt normal'."