David McBeath was delighted to help England win team silver at the Commonwealth Championships but disappointed not to add more medals in singles or doubles.

And there was an unexpected bonus for McBeath as he won the fair play award for his conduct during the tournament.

The 23-year-old player from Rownhams, Southampton, was part of a young England team, alongside Alex Ramsden (15), Tom Jarvis (16) and Helshan Weerasinghe (18), which exceeded expectations by reaching the final.

He won all three matches he played as England beat Wales, Northern Ireland, Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa 3-0, and then notched a crucial victory as England sunk top seeds Singapore 3-2, beating world No 176 Feng Chen – who later went on to win the singles gold medal – 3-1 (11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9).

That set up a final against hosts India, which England lost 3-1, despite world No 350 McBeath getting them off to a winning start with a brilliant 3-2 (9-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9) victory over world No 155 Harmeet Desai.

In the singles, McBeath won his two group matches to qualify for the knockout stage, and received a bye in the first round.

He then faced another top Indian, world No 212 Amalraj Anthony, who beat him 4-2 (9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4) and went on to win the silver medal.

McBeath also impressed alongside Karina Le Fevre in the mixed doubles, beating a Sri Lankan pair and then seeing off India’s Desai & Pooja Sahasrabudhe in a thrilling last-16 clash 3-2 (6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 16-14, 11-8).

But they were beaten by another Indian couple, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran & Ankita Das, in the quarter-finals, going down 3-1 (11-4, 9-11, 11-2, 11-5).

In the men’s doubles, McBeath & Weerasionghe lost 3-1 (7-11, 11-8, 9-11, 8-11) to Marios Yiangou & Hristo Hristonov of Cyprus in the second round, having received a first-round bye.

McBeath said: “In the beginning I wasn’t too sure how I was going to go because I felt a slight niggle in my shoulder, but once I got started I actually felt quite good.

“I think the result against Singapore was fairly unexpected. Especially with a younger team, everyone was expecting we probably weren’t going to make it past that match, so to win that was good and we all got one point each, which was a massive team effort.

“In the final against India, I think I had a good chance to win my second match but having said that everyone put in quite a good performance, especially the young lads, who should be proud of themselves.

“In the singles, I’m a bit disappointed, I definitely had a good shout to go quite far. I feel like I didn’t play as smart as I could have done but I gave it everything and I didn’t give up. Overall I’m quite happy with how I played.”