THE future of a young judo superstar could rest on whether he can secure the vital sponsorship needed to make it to the big time.

Jamie Mills, from Bettws in Newport, pictured, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in success since his first throw on a judo mat two years ago.

With a trophy cabinet bursting full of silver and bronze medals, Jamie now has the ultimate honour of representing his country as a member of the Great Britain Junior Cadets.

Unfortunately for the Gwent martial arts ace, most of the competitions he will now do battle in are abroad against the world's best - but travelling to the Continent does not come cheap.

The 13-year-old explained: "Due to the expense within the sport, namely training up to four times per week and competitions on the weekends at home and abroad, it will be difficult for me to realise my ambitions unless I get some good sponsorship deals.

"And my aim is to represent Wales at the Commonwealth Games and Great Britain at Olympic level ."

Jamie trains at the Caldicot Judo Club and also with the Welsh Institute for Sport.

Reigning bronze medalist at the British Championships, he is also a proud member of the Welsh judo squad and is now looking to take his talent to the next level.

Anyone interested in supporting Jamie should contact his family on 01633 858107 or 07939 173454.

* It's been a memorable few months for Rogerstone's British international judo player, Craig Ewers. The UWIC undergraduate has travelled extensively throughout Europe picking up European honours in the Lithuania Open where he gained a fifth place competing against the Russian states. A gold medal at the Irish open in Limerick and a bronze medal at the Finnish Open in Helsinki where again he encountered the best from the Russian and Scandinavian countries.

The finale came last week-end when he took the bronze medal and secured his British senior squad place in -73kg weight category at the British senior trials in Gateshead. In that round-robin competition many of Great Britain's top judo players - including Olympians and World and European medalists - were arranged solely to enable selection into the British Squad.