COMMONWEALTH Games triple silver medal-winning gymnast Reiss Beckford had two reasons to celebrate this week, writes Paul Alton.

Beckford, who trains at Basildon’s South Essex Gym Club, was named as a Team Essex Ambassador and also picked up a BBC East young sports personality of the year award.

The 18-year-old gymnast was among 13 athletes named by Essex County Council to receive a £6,500 bursary for this year as they gear up to selection for the London Games next summer.

Also among them are Wickford fencer Chrystall Nicoll and Leigh sailor Katrina Hughes.

“I am really proud to have won the BBC award and it was a real surprise for me because I had no idea about it,” said Beckford, who joined fellow South Essex Gym Club members Max Whitlock and Danny Lawrence at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year.

“It’s also great to have been named as a Team Essex Ambassador because it’s really going to help me ahead of the Olympics.

“My training is going well and everything is on track for this year’s big events, the European Championships and the World Championships, which is our qualification event for the 2012 Olympics.

“I’m quite young compared to other members of the GB team, so at the moment I’m concentrating on new skills.

“Currently I’m concentrating on improving my starting values on the apparatus to make them more consistent.”

Beckford will get another boost in April when the Basildon Sporting Village opens its doors in Gloucester Park.

South Essex Gym Club will be switching from its current home in Cranes Farm Road to the £38million complex.

Coach Scott Hann, who trained the club’s trio of Commonwealth Games gymnasts, has already hailed the facilities as state of the art.

And Beckford is looking forward to the move because the extra space means the gymnasts will be able to spend more time training rather than having to share apparatus and floor space.

The gymnast, who is from Enfield, trains betweeen seven and eight hours a day during the week and on Saturday afternoons as he bids to make the British team for the Olympics, which run between July 27 and August 12, 2012.

The 13 Team Essex Ambassadors for 2012 are: Adam Alderman (disability powerlifting), Reiss Beckford, Daniel Bentley (boccia), Saskia Clark (sailing), Alex Dowsett (cycling), Emma Hollis (disability swimming), James Huckle (shooting), Katrina Hughes, Chrystall Nicoll, Roberto Pavoni (swimming), Chloe Rogers (hockey), Hannah Stodel (disability sailing) and Jodie Swallow (triathlon).

Each of them have received a £6,500 award to help them meet the cost of training or competing and will also be ambassadors for Essex, promoting sport in places such as schools.