A TALENTED musician was forced to pull out of a prestigious national music competition after being hit by a car.

Sixteen-year-old Ebbw Vale pianist Nikkita Bale's dream of winning the Welsh heat of the Rotary Club Young Musician of the Year competition was shattered by the incident last Wednesday, which left her needing an operation on her broken leg.

The Ebbw Vale Comprehensive School pupil was looking forward to the heat, held last Friday in Llandrindod Wells.

But two days before the competition she was hit by a car as she walked home along Cemetery Road with school friends Chloe Thatcher and Sam Davey.

She suffered a broken leg and was taken to Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital.

The Grade Eight pianist, who practices for an hour every day, had an operation to insert a pin through her shattered femur.

Although she is on the road to recovery she has no idea when she will be able to walk without crutches or be back playing her favourite composers, Beethoven and Bach.

She was released from hospital last night and is now recovering at home. Nikkita, the youngest of four sisters who lives in Holland Street with her parents Mark and Pauline and sister Tracey, said: "It has been the worst week of my life."

She said the accident happened as she tried to cross Cemetery Road: "I could see a car coming and thought I could easily make it.

"I looked again and I could see it coming fast and I ran to the pavement. I made it but the car caught one of my legs which wasn't quite on the pavement."

She praised the emergency services who took her to hospital, saying: "The ambulance crew were great."

It then dawned on Nikkita, winner of the competition's Blaenau Gwent final, she would have to miss her big day in Mid Wales.

She said: "I was completely gutted. At the time I was thinking, 'Maybe I could perform in a wheelchair' but the doctors said there was no chance. It is really upsetting to miss out on such a big opportunity."

Although she describes music as her "hobby" Nikkita said she would like to study at Cardiff's Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Her injuries mean she cannot go back to school to sit her GCSEs. She hopes to sit the exams at home.

Her mother Pauline, 43, said: "It is just fantastic to have her home and we are really grateful she's OK." Police are not investigating the incident