England’s trio of Matt Leete, Josh Bennett and James Hobson were knocked out of the team competition at the French Youth Open, despite giving a good account of themselves.

Bennett in particular impressed in his match against Lucas Tan, overturning a 2-0 deficit and battling hard to win the next three protracted sets.

Leete also won as England took a 2-0 lead in that tie against a Singapore-Lithuania combination, only for their opponents to turn it around.

Japan A were then too strong in a 3-0 win, although Hobson led his match 2-1 and had his chances before succumbing in five.

And it was Hobson who notched England’s solitary victory in a 3-1 reverse to the USA, who were represented by three members of the Alguetti family, coming from two sets down.