KIDDERMINSTER judo player Leah Grosvenor is preparing for her biggest challenge yet after being selected for the Commonwealth Youth Games.

The 15-year-old black belt from Samurai Judo Club will travel to the Bahamas next month to represent England at the games.

Leah won the British National Championships in December 2015 and then had an incredible year undefeated in her own age band in Britain, during which she won every major title, including the Scottish and Welsh Opens, the Midlands Open, the North-West Open and the London Open.

She suffered a setback at the Venray International in Holland when she broke her leg in two places following an innocuous twisting out of an opponent’s throw in the quarter-final.

Incredibly she was back on the mat just three months later, winning gold at the Heart of England in September, and also four medals in international events in Holland and Belgium towards the end of the year.

In December she moved up to the 15 to 17 years cadet age band and by January was back to winning form, taking gold again at the Midlands Open, followed up by gold at the Scottish Open again, this time in the older age band, and then a stunning gold at the Northern Ireland Open, where all of her major British rivals bar Scotland’s Josie Steele were present.

Leah defeated them all by maximum points. She also defeated another major rival in the final of the London Open to retain that title, but in her new age band, and then finished ninth in the Portugal Cadet European Cup, her first experience at this level.

Results placed Leah second in the British Ranking Table behind Josie Steele, who is in her last year as a cadet, who was selected for the European Youth Olympics.

Samurai coach, Andrew Haffner, said: “We’re not quite ready yet for something like the Europeans. The Commonwealth Games is a perfect one for Leah as a first year cadet. By next year she will hopefully be even stronger. She’s getting better with every tournament.”

Although Leah has known for some time about the selection, the news was only allowed to be released this week after the England team in all sports was formally announced by Sport England.

Meanwhile, there were some great performances from some of the new Samurai juniors at the club’s open Orange and Under Championships, attended by twenty clubs from all over the Midlands and beyond.

Harrison Flello and Katy Jennings recorded their first gold medals, whilst there were silvers for Scott Hulbert, Isaac Sobolowski, Joe Blanchfield, Loic Keasey, Lola Grosvenor (Leah’s younger sister) and Lily Deeming-Lane, and bronzes for Joel Haywood, Leo Lloyd-Williams, Mateo Allen, Luke Mole, Harry Ashen, Meghann O’Sullivan and Bonnie Deeming-Lane.

Debutants Scott Hulbert and Joe Blanchfield particularly caught the eye, whilst Isaac Sobolewski looks a great prospect and Leo Lloyd-Williams fought really hard.

In the seniors, Rob Alloway took silver at the Kent Open in the veterans' section.