A TENDRING swimmer will be jetting off to Asia after being selected to represent Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

The whole of the district will be behind Ellie Challis, 17, from Clacton, in the hope she can bring the glory back home.

When she was just 16-months-old, Ellie developed sepsis and meningitis which left her fighting for her life.

The disease ravaged her tiny body, resulting in her having to have both legs amputated below the knee and both arms at the elbow.

Fast forward to today and she’s on top of the world.

In 2019 she was the recipient of the Amplifon Award for Outstanding Achievements at the Tendring Sports Personality Awards 2019 and has since become a Paralympic swimmer; the Tokyo games will be her first competition outside of the UK.

Alex Porter, Tendring councillor responsible for sport and leisure, has now encouraged everyone to back Ellie.

“We have some brilliant sporting talent across the ages in a variety of sports in Tendring and Ellie is an embodiment of what you can accomplish with hard work and determination.

“I hope Ellie’s achievements will encourage others to take up sports and show what you can achieve.

“I wish her every success in the games, she had the Paralympics firmly in her sights from a young age and she has achieved her goal. Well done Ellie, you are an inspiration to us all”.

The young Clacton swimmer burst onto the scene in 2017, breaking the British SB2 50m Breaststroke record that had stood since 1992, before becoming the world record holder in the event two years later.

The Paralympic Games begin on Tuesday, August 24.