ABBIE Cunningham regained her place in Great Britain's squad for the Junior European Judo Championships by picking up another gold medal at the weekend.

The 16-year-old had lost her place in the team to Sarah Addlington after choosing to concentrate on cadet competitions earlier in the year.

So the pressure was intense when Abbie squared up to the same girl in the only open weight category fight at the British Junior Open in Crystal Palace.

Abbie rose to the challenge by recording a comfortable victory and she will now take a well deserved break from the sport.

Josie Cunningham, Abbie's mum, said: "We are off to America this week and Abbie is really looking forward to having a rest.

"She did really well to beat Sarah in Crystal Palace. She is a very big girl, so much so that when Abbie was standing on the gold medal podium and Sarah was standing on the silver medal one she still towered above my daughter."

Josie added: "The reason that Abbie only had one fight was that the competition had been moved from June. As a result, a lot of the people who would have been taking part were unable to travel because they were back at school.

"That was a real shame but the main thing for Abbie was that she regained her place for the Junior Europeans in Sarajevo.

"She will go there in November and before that she will take part in a junior A tournament in Germany at the end of September."

Fellow Warrington Judo Club star Rebecca Kay will also be competing in the German Junior Open in Berlin.

The 17-year-old from Latchford won a gold medal in the under 48kgs category in Crystal Palace.

There were 11 competitors in her section, some as far afield as South Africa, Holland and Sweden.

A similar number of youngsters took part in the u78kgs category for which Samantha Fletcher won a silver medal. The 17-year-old from Blackburn is also a member of Warrington Judo Club.