A pair of future sporting stars have been given a boost towards their dream of winning medals after receiving a funding award from a gold medal-winning Olympian.

England under 18s player Georgie Whitaker, 17 and 16-year-old squash player Amy Jones were awarded a £750 grant each from the Bucks SportsAid Foundation towards furthering their careers.

Sir William Borlase’s pupil Georgie, who has represented Marlow, Wycombe and Reading hockey clubs, received her grant from former swimming champion Sharron Davies at a special ceremony last week.

She said: "Playing in the Olympics is my ultimate goal, but it’s very exciting to be part of the development squad and I’d like to be in contention to play in the Hockey World Cup in South America at the end of 2016."

At 14, Georgie was selected for the England U16 squad and in 2014 moved up to join the U18s, where the highlight of her fledgling career has been playing in the Five Nations Hockey Tournament in Nottinghamshire last July.

Training at least five days a week at Bisham Abbey, home to England Hockey, she was recently chosen to join the development squad for the England U21 team.

A Level student Georgie, who hopes to take up an offer to study medicine at Oxford, said she will use the grant to help with travelling expenses and a new hockey glove and shoes.

16-year-old squash player Amy Jones from Amersham also received the funding, having reached seventh in the rankings for the U17 age group and trained with the U17 England EDP Squads.

A pupil at Amersham School, she plays for Chesham Bois Lawn Tennis and Squash Club and hopes to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 2018.

The future star, who has already secured a scholarship to Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire, which has a reputation for producing world-class players, said: "My ambition is to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 2018 and to compete in the World Squash Championships and the British Open.

"The grant will go towards training equipment and kit and will be a big help, so thank you to Bucks SportsAid."

Swimmer Davies, who won a silver medal at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and two golds at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, made the presentation at Dorney Lake last week.

The champion, who also benefitted from a SportsAid grant at a young age, said: "As well as the financial help, it was the fact that someone felt I was good enough to invest in me for the future.

"SportsAid is so valuable, not just in supporting families with funding, but it shows girls like Amy and Georgie that we believe in them and it helps give them the incentive to train a little bit harder."