DROITWICH’S Lauren Whiteman has become the United Kingdom’s number one women’s racketlon player.

After taking up the sport just over two years ago her focus is on the British Open Championships in Nottingham at the end of June.

Attracting the country’s top players Whiteman’s sternest test yet will be a chance to consolidate top spot in the rankings.

She is ranked 17 in the world and wants to break into the top 15 over the next 12 months.

Racketlon players compete in consecutive games of table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis with each going up to 21 points.

In a typical tournament players have four matches in a day which tests stamina and resolve.

Whiteman, 22, heads to Vienna, Austria, in August with the Great Britain squad for the European Championships in the team, doubles and individual events.

Late last year in Nuremberg, Germany, in the Individual World Championships she finished a respectable 12th despite suffering a suspected fractured back.

The Herefordshire and Worcestershire tennis player has also represented the county at badminton.

The primary school sports coach, who attended Droitwich Spa High School and the University of Worcester, will spend the next few months completing intensive fitness and skills training.

Whiteman is on the Rivers Leisure Centres gifted and talented sponsorship scheme but must meet all her own costs for every tournament.

Any local businesses interested in sponsoring her are asked to call her father Roger Whiteman on 07443 337710.