British champion wants judo 'funding push' at home

Lele Nairne has been selected for her first Olympic Games in Paris this summer

British champion Lele Nairne said there needs to be "more of a funding push" in her home county of Somerset to promote judo.

The 26-year-old is making her Olympics debut in Paris this summer, competing in the -57kg category.

Nairne, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, started competing as a child but eventually had to travel to Bristol to train.

"It's just a shame really because there's a lack of clubs, and because there's a lack of clubs there's a lack of players," Nairne told BBC Radio Somerset.

"Players, fighters, athletes, just go, 'There's no one to train with around here.'

She added: "You've got some people in Devon and Plymouth who travel to my club in Bristol which takes them two, three hours to get there just to do one training session a club night. After a while that gets to you.

"There needs to be more of a funding push to judo in the Weston area."

Nairne started judo in 2007 and won multiple national titles as a child before joining a more official association and finding the level of competition to be a step up.

For about two years she said she was "getting beat up by everybody".

"It was a shock to me because I wasn't used to losing, but I almost embraced it as a bit of a challenge. So I really pushed myself," she said.

Nairne won her first senior medal at the European Cup in 2018 in Orenburg and took bronze at the Continental Open in 2019.

Last December, she won the -57kg title at the British Judo Championships.

Nairne said getting her Great Britain kit for the Paris Games was "such a good feeling".

"I want to get a medal - probably gold but any medal will do me. Gold is the aim right now," she said.