WHEELCHAIR table tennis player Nicko Anderson admits defending his title at the Sainsbury’s School Games was the perfect way to sign off from the competition.

More than 1,600 talented school children descended on Manchester to compete in 12 sports across four action-packed days last week.

And Nicko, 18, representing England South East, was one of the stars at the Regional Tennis Centre, seeing off Daniel Bullen in the final to claim gold.

The former Uxbridge College pupil from Northolt believes his experiences will stand him in good stead for his future ambitions.

“It's my second year winning here and my second year going undefeated,” said Anderson, who is a member of Greenhouse Table Tennis Club.

“It's my last one and I wanted to go out with a bang - which I think I did! It's brilliant competing with everyone I know, I've made so many friends and there is so much talent here.

“It gets better each year. People get more experienced and you get a higher level of competition. It's wicked - it's a brilliant event to be in.

“If I ever get to the Paralympic Games, I think this has prepared me immensely. This is the only tournament I've been to that is multi-sport, so it has set me up nicely.”

The Sainsbury’s School Games has helped to launch the careers of many British athletes, including Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds.

Anderson was not the only athlete from the area to taste success in Manchester as Ealing swimmer Cain Franchi-Webster claimed silver in the boys 50m freestyle and wheelchair fencer Dimitri Coutya took gold in the foil and silver in the sabre.

Dimitri, of St Benedict’s School, said: “The foil is my main weapon and I thought’ I'm going to go out there, put on a good show and win that gold medal’.

“For me it's a personal achievement because I'm fencing people with higher abilities than me - so I was quite pleased with that.”

The Sainsbury’s 2014 School Games, supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, was held in venues across Manchester from September 4-7. Visit www.2014schoolgames.com for more information.