GEORGE Pinner is in the Great Britain team for next month's Australia Youth Olympic Festival.The former Ipswich Hockey Club and England Under-21 international goalkeeper will jet Down Under on January 2 for a series of warm-up games ahead of the festival in Sydney between January 17 and 21.

By Mel Henderson

GEORGE Pinner is in the Great Britain team for next month's Australia Youth Olympic Festival.

The former Ipswich Hockey Club and England Under-21 international goalkeeper will jet Down Under on January 2 for a series of warm-up games ahead of the festival in Sydney between January 17 and 21.

For the first time, the British Olympic Association are sending a team to compete in 11 different sports in what is a biannual event involving 1,500 competitors from more than 20 countries.

George, 20, who is half-way through a business management course at the University of Nottingham, only recently returned from a Team GB training camp in Gibraltar and will soon be packing his bags again for the marathon journey to Australia.

He quit Ipswich in the summer and joined Beeston for the new season but is still sponsored by Ipswich-based property services group Seven.

“It is a great honour to be chosen for this prestigious event,” said George, “and I want to thank my sponsors for their continued support.

“As a student I have to get the balance right between studying and training and but for Seven's backing I doubt if I would be able to pursue my hockey career to such an extent.”