Gymnast Georgina out to prove a European star

Shropshire gymnast Georgina Hockenhull has taken a massive step towards the big time after winning selection for the European junior championships next month.

The 14-year-old Park-Wrekin gymnast was today named in the five-strong junior team to compete in Brussels from May 9 to 13.

The senior squad is without double European champion Beth Tweddle, who will not be able to defend the floor and bars titles she won in Birmingham in 2010 after undergoing keyhole knee surgery last week.

Hockenhull, who is from Crudgington near Telford, trains for at least 24 hours over six days each week at Wrekin College, where she is a pupil, and British Gymnastics' training base at Lilleshall.

She has been the West Midlands age group champion every year since she was old enough to compete and is a member of the Welsh squad.

The junior European championships runs alongside the senior competition, which this year forms part of the selection process for the London Olympics.

The British Olympic team will be announced on July 4.

The withdrawal of 27-year-old world bars champion Tweddle is to give her the best possible chance of competing in London. An Olympic medal is the only major honour missing from her CV.

British Gymnastics Olympic performance director Tim Jones said: "It is important for us to protect Beth and safeguard her Olympic dreams. It is in Beth's best interests that we have decided not to consider her for the European Championships, allowing her to spend the time working with the British Gymnastics medical team and her coach to ensure a speedy return to full fitness."

The senior squad includes British champion Hannah Whelan and three-time Commonwealth Games champion Imogen Cairns, plus Jennifer Pinches, Danusia Francis and 15-year old Rebecca Tunney.

Joining Hockenhull in the junior squad are Gabby Jupp, Charlie Fellows, Angel Romaeo and Raer Theaker.