CHRISTIE WADDINGTON could be a unique sportswoman, eligible to compete not only for England and Scotland, but also the United States .

The former pupil of King’s School at Canterbury, a sabre specialist, was back home in Chestfield recently to celebrate her sister Alexa’s fourth birthday in a short break from her permanent coaching base in Budapest.

The next major event in her busy calendar is a Five Nations tournament in County Durham early next month. Last year she represented England and won a gold medal, but this year she will be competing for Scotland, and against friends and former team-mates.

Mum Diana explained: “Christie qualifies for England through me, but my husband Ian comes from Kinlochleven, near Glencoe, so she can fence for Scotland, and being born in New York means she also qualifies for America.

“She has been offered a place at a college in Ohio, but is planning to study Latin and Classics after winning a sports bursary at Newcastle University.”

Christie left King’s in July last year and has been based in Budapest since October training with top Hungarian coach Peter Frohlich and the country’s national squad. She said: “Fencing is taken very seriously in Hungary. We train four hours, five days a week. I have recently competed at two international events in the country, as well as in Poland and Germany, so it’s been a case of living out of a suitcase.”

Ranked 11 in the British national sabre standings, and fourth in the Under-20 she has been selected to compete for England in the 2006 Commonwealth Fencing Games in Belfast.