A TEENAGER has been selected to be an official umpire at the ping pong world championships.

Lauren James, 17, from Highwoods, Colchester, is heading to Alexandra Palace, in London, this weekend for the third annual event.

The Colchester Institute student said: “It’s going to be a great experience to be involved in a world championship.

“It’s exciting. I’m really looking forward to it.”

One of the qualifying rounds was at Rowhedge Table Tennis Club, where Lauren plays regularly.

She said: “They just said they wanted some young people to do umpiring. It’s good because it gives people the opportunity to see whether they like it.”

Lauren has been playing table tennis at Rowhedge for two-and-a-half years and has learned to umpire during her time at the club.

Ping pong is similar to table tennis, but players use sandpaper bats, rather than table tennis’s sponge bats.

Lauren will be overseeing Saturday’s games, in which the competitors will be whittled down from 64 to 32.

The competition will be screened live on Sky Sports.

Lauren will then spend Sunday in the audience with her family.

She is particularly looking forward to watching Egle Adomelyte play as she is the only English woman to qualify in the mixed event.