Ten of Bermuda?s best young athletes assembled yesterday as the Ministry of Sport handed out more than $45,000 as part of their annual National Junior Athlete Sponshorship Programme.

In the tenth edition of the programme, sports as wide ranging as gymnastics, sailing, tennis, squash and football benefited from the scheme which aims to produce the next generation of international competitors.

The youngsters, ranging in age from 12 to 17, received funding to cover anything from equipment costs to tournament and travel expenses to specialised coaching and even a hi-tech racing suit for 14-year-old multiple national swimming record holder Rebecca Sharpe.

With Sports Minister Dale Butler with the delegation at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Minister without Portfolio Walter Lister stepped in to hand out the ten awards which ranged from $2,300 to $6,850.

?There is no limit to where these young athletes can go,? said Lister.

All but one of the athletes ? tennis star Ashley Brooks is away at school ? were in attendance at the lunch at the Hamilton Princess, stepping up with the presidents of their governing bodies, and also sometimes their parents, to receive the cheques.