Unbeatable ace set forop.

AN international female table tennis star from St Helens, who in the summer won a medal at the UK School Games, is facing a medical procedure that involves open-heart surgery.

This season 17-year-old Rachel Baker can boast of an undefeated record, against woman, in all Merseyside league matches. However, she will face an even sterner challenge when the call comes for her to go into hospital in the next few weeks.

"I had open heart surgery four days after I was born," explained the England international. "This second operation does not come as a surprise, because I always knew that at some stage I would need a similar operation. Recently it was diagnosed that a valve in my heart needed replacing and I could be asked to go in anytime in the near future."

The remarkable thing about the Sutton Manor girls condition is that it does not affect her table tennis at all. "I train everyday and play two or three league games a week," she continued phlegmatically. "I won a bronze medal at Newport in the UK school games and have ambitions to make the Olympic team in 2016."

Baker has been around the international scene for a while. She has been a member of the England Academy for the last two years, has represented her country against Slovakia in Bratislava, and attended an international training camp in Hungary. Currently she is ranked number 11 in her age group and 42nd in the senior category, although on current form both should be much higher.

"On my day I feel I could beat anybody in the country. The competition is very tough, but I usually give a good account of myself. I am at my strongest in a game when I am attacking the opposition."

When not training or playing, Rachel is studying a qualification in sports fitness and coaching at St Helens College and would like, eventually, to go into coaching full time.