Urban Face of Table Tennis Signs for Barrow TTC
Darius Knight
Darius, who at 20 is the current England Number 3 (based on ITTF World Rankings), had signed to play for Barrow TTC last season (2009/2010). However, much to his frustration, playing commitments and contracts abroad meant that he was unable to play – leaving him feeling he had let the team down. Thankfully, Darius has remained loyal to the Club and this season it is going to be a very different story.
On the signing of the England International and London 2012 Olympic hopeful, Barrow Team Manager Tristran Swan beamed, “the signing of Darius is tremendous news. He is the face England table tennis.”
Tristran went on to talk about the public’s perception of Darius: “Darius receives an unfair amount of criticism in my view. People believe his disadvantaged background and the press attention he receives gives him an unfair advantage when it comes to the England squad selection.”
“Darius is returning to the British League to play for Barrow TTC and in doing so he has the perfect platform to show the British Table Tennis public what he is about. He will be wanting to prove a point and I’d be very surprised if he didn’t win a 100% of his matches.”
Tristran went further, explaining what other benefits the signing will bring to Barrow TTC: “Darius is a self-styled table tennis role model. He is the urban face of Fred Perry and the figurehead of the hugely successful Fred Perry Urban Cup which promotes Table Tennis in inner cities. Darius is at his best connecting with kids, he understands them and makes table tennis fun and accessible.”
“Darius has said he will come up to Barrow, meet the kids and coach them. He is brilliant at this kind of thing, and the motivation kids get from meeting someone like Darius can’t be underestimated. I still remember the time I met and played with England table tennis legend Des Douglas.”.
Prior to leaving England for the China Open, Darius said with confidence and enthusiasm, “We’re going take the title! We’ve got a strong team of World class players and great National players, so why not?”.
When asked why he is making his return to the British League with Barrow, Darius said, “Jonny (Crawford) is my dad, he knows a lot and I’m very close to the Barrow boys. It’s important to play with people you get on with, especially the boss Dunx (Duncan Crawford, Assistant Team Manager)”.
You can find out more about Darius Knight on his player profile – Darius Knight’s Player Profile.
