Nine-year-old girl to make history representing England

Image source, Simon Walker / No 10 Downing Street

Image caption, Bodhana only started playing chess during lockdown

Meet nine-year-old chess champion Bodhana Sivanandan.

She is the youngest person to be selected in any sport to represent England at an international sporting competition.

Part of a team of five players, where the next youngest player is 23, Bodhana has been chosen for the England women's team playing in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest this September.

Bodhana only started playing chess during lockdown, before she caught the attention of the chess world in 2022 at the British championships.

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Image source, Matthew Chattle/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Image caption, Chessfest takes place in Trafalgar Square, London

Bodhana will also be taking part in a more local competition on Sunday 7 July.

She will play alongside the new generation of young English chess players who started playing in lockdown, at ChessFest 2024 in Trafalgar Square in London.

The event is the biggest chess event in the UK and is open to anyone who wants to learn to play, or have a go at testing their skills against one of these talents.

Other young people who have represented England at international sporting competitions...

Image source, Barrington Coombs/Getty Images

Image caption, Now 18, Anna Hursey will be representing GB at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games

Britain's youngest Olympians back in the 1932 Winter Olympic Skating Competition were Cecilia Colledge and Megan Taylor.

They were both 11 years old when they competed in figure skating.

Since then, Anna Hursey first competed for Wales in table tennis in 2017, when she was just 10!

She then became the youngest athlete at a Commonwealth Games in 2018, aged 11, and will be representing GB in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

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