Ian Clarke secured table tennis glory at the first Sussex Disability Games at Christ's Hospital School, Horsham.

The 12-year-old, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, won three Disability Sport England national junior swimming championship medals in March. But three months ago he was told he would be unable to compete in the meet again.

His mother Pam said: "He had an assessment in June conducted by the DSE and was told that he did not qualify to compete in the championships, but his condition had not changed.

"When he was being assessed he sensed what they were going to say. He moved his wheelchair away telling me 'I don't want them to see me cry'. He was very depressed and even tried to play football when he knew he shouldn't and the ball hit him and broke his arm in two places.

"It broke my heart. To add insult to injury we recently received an invitation for him to enter the championships. I think it was a case of the left hand not telling the right hand with the DSE.

"Although they didn't physically take away his medals, he now doesn't feel he won them anyway so he needed to prove to himself that he could be a legitimate winner at another sport.

"When the chance came up to take part in the Games it gave him an opportunity and he was determined to prove a point. He had never played table tennis before but is sports mad and wanted to be a winner at something.

"It was good to see him smile again. He is so chuffed.

"Ian has found a sport he can be a winner at. He has picked himself up by the boot laces. It a boost for him and now he wants to find a table tennis club."

Disabled Sport England swimming co-ordinator Pat Bennett is delighted Ian, who beat Martin Shier (West Hoathly) in the final, has found satisfaction with table tennis.

She said: "Good luck to him. I'm glad he is enjoying it. At the assessment we never disputed he had a disability, it was just that he didn't have enough loss of functional ability to meet the minimum requirements to be specifically classified in any events at the nationals which comes under International Paralympic Committee rules.

"I can't comment on why he was classified for the last nationals as I wasn't involved in his process. Also, without investigating, I cannot talk about any invitation sent to Ian, although he is still able to swim at levels below national because the IPC rules do not apply."

The Angmering pupil, who is based at the Norfolk Centre unit linked to the school, was one of around 250 competitors at the Games which also featured football, short-mat bowls and boccia, a form of bowls.

Albion dominated the football events.

Their A team beat the B team 7-1 in the under-17s final in a competition which also included Forest Flyers, St John's College (Brighton) and Larkfield (Kent).

The 17 and overs was split into A and B groups and the Seagulls won them both against St Piers College (East Grinstead), 2-1 and 5-3 respectively. Forest Flyers (Horsham), Burnside Day Centre (Burgess Hill) and Shepway Wanderers (Kent) also took part.

Mid Sussex Marvels, set up by Albion's disability football office, won the round-robin under-12s with the Seagulls A runners-up, Seagulls B third and Forest Flyers (Horsham) fourth.

Teresa Sanders, Albion disability football development officer, said: "It was a wonderful tournament and I would say that Albion had involvement with 95 per cent of the teams. If they weren't our players, many of the other sides were set-up by us and had players coached by us.

"I was manager of our 17 and over team, who aged mainly around 16, and I found it nice to be able to concentrate on that.

"Normally I'm organising the event, but the Horsham and District Council did a very professional job.

"I hope there are a lot more Sussex Disability Games. This one was a big success."

In the short mat bowls, Ben Slade, ten, from Chichester made a winning debut in the third of three groups, defeating Andrew Blackman (Barnham).

Jack Bruce, ten, from Crawley, won the beginners' boccia competition with 13-year-old Gareth Daniels, also Crawley, runner-up.

ALBION will compete in their first National Disability League fixture against Shepway at Withdean on Sunday.

Sanders said: "The team are really looking forward to it. They are only a young team, with an average age of 16, but they are developing into a good side."