EALING’S talented young sportsmen and sportswomen have until February 20 to apply for 2014 GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) funding.

Ealing applicants could follow in the footsteps of judo exponent Nekoda Davis, 20, who won bronze at the 2013 Junior European Championships.

GSF has offered more than 5,000 awards, worth £2.8million, across 80 Olympic, Paralympic, Deaflympic and Special Olympic sports.

GLL Sport Foundation chairman Peter Bundey said: “We can help young athletes bridge the difficult leap from regional to national level as they start to become ready for senior competition.”

Last year, 1,300 athletes received support, including Amy Marren, 15, who is now three-times world champion after triple gold success at the IPC World Swimming Championships in Canada.

Sabrina Bakare, 17, became a world champion with 400m gold at the IAAF World Youth Athletics Championships in Ukraine.

GSF was launched by charitable social enterprise GLL in 2008 and works in partnership with national charity SportsAid.

It has a pot of £1million to share with young athletes in support of the UK’s next generation of sporting talent.

To be eligible, young sportsmen and women must live or be in education in a partnership where GLL or its partners operate.

Alternatively, they should be affiliated to a sports club with a training base at a GLL or partner-operated sport and leisure venue.

Successful applicants will benefit from financial awards of up to £1,250 over the next 12 months.

Recipients will also benefit from free sporting access to more than 130 UK sport and leisure venues managed by GLL and partners.

Visit the GSF website at www.gllsportfoundation.org