TWO North Yorkshire youngsters have hit their way into top-flight junior table tennis with a series of great performances.

James Parker and James Atkins are both through to play in the national ranking trials at Bristol in March.

Parker reached the national trials last year at Under-15 level and raised his standards even higher this time to qualify in the U18 group by finishing third in the regional trials played at Bradford.

This was after he had come joint first in the Yorkshire trials the previous weekend, tying with another York junior, Stephen Robinson.

In the regional trials, Robinson lost a tense five-set match to Parker and finished fourth overall, just missing out on qualification for the national event.

York's Tom Wright finished sixth in the regional trials at U18 level and Nathan Horsley was eighth in the Yorkshire trials.

Parker plays for Sessions in the York League and turns out for Derwent second team in the national league. He also represents Yorkshire in the county second team.

Atkins, aged 12, came second in the regional trials at U13 level after having finished top in the Yorkshire trials. He lives at Scarthingwell, near Tadcaster, and plays for Thorpe Willoughby in the Selby League and Pudsey in the Leeds League. He won the Yorkshire Schools' U12 title last year at Scarborough and is also the North Yorkshire U12 title-holder.

His twin sister Gemma came sixth in the Yorkshire trials and then eighth in the regional event but did not qualify for Bristol.

Both Parker and Atkins attend with weekly coaching sessions at Millthorpe School under the guidance of senior coach Mick Wilcockson.

Parker and Robinson were both unbeaten in three matches when they played for Yorkshire seconds in the first round of County Championship fixtures played at Grantham. Yorkshire II beat Northants II 6-4, Lancashire II 7-3 and drew 5-5 with Staffordshire.

York, holders of the Yorkshire Junior League title, won two matches and lost one in the first round of fixtures played at Halifax.

Nathan Horsley, Tom Wright and Laurence Houlison were unbeaten in 9-0 wins over Halifax II and Harrogate.

Between these successes, York lost 7-2 to Halifax firsts, when Horsley scored both York's wins.

Updated: 10:06 Saturday, January 14, 2006