TWO young women from the North-East, Anna Richardson and Charlotte Hanson, have been selected to play in the Hungarian national water polo cup competition this month.

This is one of the most prestigious domestic water polo competitions in the world and, on Wednesday, the pair trained with the Hungarian national team.

They are also playing in training matches throughout the country and will visit Slovakia for a match.

Anna, a 16-year-old from Durham, is part of the Great Britain junior training squad and a member of the Harrogate Shortwalkers team which won the national league division two title in January.

She was the leading goalscorer in the league with 50 goals in 14 matches.

The Shortwalkers club secretary, Chris Davey, said: "This is a great opportunity for the girls and we hope they learn some new techniques which will be useful for the team in the first division."

Charlotte, 19, was a leading member of the Shortwalkers team until last year when she joined the Hammersmith Penguins in the first division.

A few years ago she won a Richmondshire District Council award to help pay for her training programme.

Since leaving the St Francis Xavier School in Richmond she has been studying at Grantham College and attending the water polo academy there.

She played for the Great Britain juniors at the European championships for the last two years and is currently a member of the British senior squad training for the Commonwealth Games in Australia next year.