Budding athletes across Tower Hamlets can apply for funding to help with their coaching and training costs.

They can now apply for funding from the GLL Sports Foundation (GSF).

The GLL Sports Foundation Fund is an independent athlete support scheme which works in partnership with national charity SportsAid to support the next generation of sporting talent.

In 2013 the fund helped 1,300 athletes to achieve sporting success including local Tower Hamlets weightlifter Mercy Brown, 17, who won two bronze medals at the European Youth Weightlifting Championship in Lithuania.

The fund hopes to address the obstacles and barriers athletes face in reaching the top. Last year 90 per cent of the recipients received no other centralised funding while research by SportsAid showed their average annual expenditure is more than £6,000.

Cabinet member for culture, Cllr Rania Khan, said: “I would encourage any promising future athletes to take advantage of this opportunity which can

To apply and find out further details of the scheme go to the GSF website at www.gllsportfoundation.org. Applications for 2014 awards are open until Thursday, February 20.