England table tennis ace Darius Knight has just returned from a charity trip to Uganda admitting the experience was "an eye-opener".

The Battersea-based player spent four days in the east African country last month with the Right to Play charity – for who he is an ambassador.

Knight, a 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, was seeing at first hand the charity’s work in helping the personal and educational development of youngsters.

He visited school and community projects in the capital, Kampala, and the surrounding area where Right to Play teach life skills, such as teamwork and fair play, through sport and play.

The 25-year-old said: "It was very emotional. I've been to China and India, but seeing the poverty in Africa was completely different.

“How they live is beyond liveable, lots of people in a tiny room, it's unacceptable.

"I knew I was going to get a reality check, but not as much as that. The average wage is $500 a year. It just makes you think, being British we've got nothing to complain about.

"Even if you don't get the best start in life, even if you lose your mum and dad, you get looked after here.

“If you're ill, you're looked after. They're dying because they don't have the money for a vaccination.”

He added: "It was an eye-opener - we've got nothing to complain about in this country."

However, even in the midst of poverty, Knight saw the power of sport to transform lives.

"The kids are happy playing sport and are massively passionate about it,” he said.

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“They've got one football between 100 kids and they're all very happy playing without markings or goals.

"They play sport because it's their way of escaping. It was like that for me with table tennis, but my reality was nowhere near theirs. I didn't have to finish school and then go to work, I had food to eat.”

He added: "It was great to find out more about what Right to Play does as a charity and to see where the money I've helped raise is going.

"All the kids are so smart, they all speak fluent English. They really appreciate people like us coming over and they never had to be asked to say thank you. I felt like I was doing something meaningful."

Find out more about Right to Play's life-changing work with children go to Right to Play UK.