One of the most extraordinary stories in British sport has taken another twist with the announcement that Darius Knight, a prospect for Olympic gold at the London Games in 2012, has been selected to compete at the Dunlop Masters at the Albert Hall in London, the most prestigious table tennis competition to take place in the UK for more than a decade.

The tournament on March 17 will provide the 18-year-old from Battersea, South London, with the toughest challenge of his career: a showdown with some of the world’s top players live on Sky Sports and in front of more than 4,000 spectators.

Knight was first spotted by this newspaper playing in a garden shed in Wandsworth in the summer of 2002 along with three young friends from council estates in London. The boys would travel to the shed - owned by a well-wisher - after school and honed their techniques under the guidance of Gideon Ashison, a former part-time library assistant and an inspirational coach.

“It was obvious that Darius had a special talent,” Ashison said. “The problem is that we could not afford decent facilities so the shed was the only option. The boys used to spend afternoons and school holidays there, with precious little room to swing their rackets. But they had incredible desire to learn and improve.”

The transformation in Knight’s life in the past few years has been dramatic. Transported from the gang culture of his housing estate by an invitation to the English Table Tennis Association’s National Training Centre, Knight fell under the guidance of some of the world’s best coaches. At 14 he was at the top of Europe in his age group and has won gold medals at the European Youth Championships and the Youth Olympics.

But if Knight’s odyssey provides testimony to the transformative power of sport, even more remarkable is the impact he has had on the lives of other young people. After publication of the article six years ago, readers of The Times spontaneously sent in cheques to aid Knight’s development. Soon afterwards two London business-men who had read the article came up with the idea of creating an organisation to improve the life chances of other youngsters through table tennis.

The resulting project, called Table Tennis for Kids (TTK), employs more than 20 full-time coaches, including Ashison, and works with more than 3,000 teenagers each week in some of the toughest areas in London as well as the Rhondda Valley in Wales. This summer, 20 of the most enthusiastic youngsters will be taken to a training camp in Beijing and provided with tickets to watch the table tennis events at this year’s Olympic Games.

Michael De Giorgio, a retired businessman who is behind the success of TTK, is convinced of its social impact. “Sport changes lives, not only through its impact on health but by raising the self-esteem and aspiration of the youngsters,” he said. “Table tennis is a great sport to engage with young people in urban areas because you can get a lot of tables into a relatively small amount of space.”

Knight concurs. “God knows what would have happened had I not got involved with table tennis,” he said. “By the time I started playing, my dad had already left home. I am not sure where he was, I don’t have anything to do with him any more.

“It would have been easy to get involved in drugs had it not been for sport. My mum did as much as she could for me and my sister, but things were tough. One of the best things about the last few years is that, because of my success, I have been able to give money back to my mum - and she knows that it is clean money.”

Knight’s participation at the Dunlop Masters will give a good indication of how far he needs to progress to challenge the world’s best. Timo Boll, the lightning fast left-hander from Germany and former world No 1, is part of the lineup, as is Chen Weixing, the spectacular defensive specialist who represents Austria. Paul Drinkhall, Knight’s great rival and the British senior No 1, will also be challenging for the title.

Amazing journey

2000 Darius Knight is introduced to table tennis at a local youth club

2001 Lack of adequate facilities forces him to train in a shed in Wandsworth, southwest London

2002 First cap for England Youth team at a competition in Italy (first time he had been on an aircraft)

2005 Wins gold medal at European Youth Championships

2007 Wins gold medal at Youth Olympics in Australia.

2008 Selected to compete in the Dunlop Masters at Albert Hall in London

2012 Ambition is to win Olympic gold in London

— Profits from the Masters will be donated to TTK, part of the Greenhouse Schools Project, a multisport charity. Tickets for the tournament, promoted by Matthew Syed, can be bought at www.royalalberthall.com

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