Liam Pitchford insists recent performances at the European Championships were some of the best of his career.

Pitchford, a five-time medallist at Commonwealth Games level, reached the last 16 of both the men’s singles and men’s doubles in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

In the former, the 22-year-old came up against world number five Dimitrij Ovtcharov, who was ranked as the top seed in the tournament.

Despite himself being ranked 19th for the competition, Pitchford put up a brave fight with some brilliant play before eventually losing out 4-2.

It was an even closer affair in the doubles match too with Pitchford and partner Paul Drinkhall trading match points with fourth seeds Par Gerell and Jon Persson before the Swedes triumphed 3-2.

And while disappointed not to have progressed further, Pitchford could take heart from his efforts, particularly in the singles.

"It was probably the best game I've played for a while. I came out with nothing to lose," Pitchford told Table Tennis England.

"I spoke to Cookie [Alan Cooke, Performance Coach] before and we spoke about how I needed to play. I started off well and that first set was probably the best I’ve ever played.

"He's very hard to play against because he's always changing his game. I think I made life hard for him and he looked nervous, but he's No 5 in the world for a reason and he found a way.

"I honestly believe if I'd have played anyone else it would have been a different story and I'd have won.

"I'm disappointed to lose but I'm quite proud of how I performed."

Sportsbeat 2015