GB call-up for young Jay

TORBAY gymnastics starlet Jay Thompson has received a major boost with his selection for Britain's elite National Squad, despite being sidelined for nearly four months because of injury.

The GB selectors have underlined their faith in 12-year-old Jay, from Paignton, by picking him even though he has only just recovered from a broken hand.

Normally the squad is selected on results at the National Elite Championships, but young Thompson was injured for that competition.

The squad is being aimed at the 2012 London Olympics, and Thompson's selection means an intensified training regime.

Jay, who continued to train as much as he could during his injury lay-off, already practices more than three hours a day, six days a week, at the Exeter Olympic Gymnastics Club.

Being a member of the national elite squad will commit him to ten week-long training camps a year, when the young gymnasts work out for six hours every day.

In competition, Jay's sights are now firmly set on the British Championships at Wigan in November.