TYLDESLEY water polo players Hayley Price and Grace Rowland have been chosen to represent Team GB at the inaugural European Games.

The teenagers, who are members of the Tyldesley Water Polo club, will take to the purpose-built pool in Baku, Azerbaijan, next month.

A spokesman for the club said: "This is an amazing achievement for the girls and the club.

"To have two girls who live in Atherton and Tyldesley selected for GB out of a squad of 13 is a fantastic achievement and recognition of the hard work they have put in."

The water polo competition will take place from the June12-21 in the Games Park, built for what is the first multi-discipline sporting event, similar to the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, solely for European countires.

Twelve teams will compete for water polo gold, with Britain drawn against Greece, Netherlands, Hungary, Germany and Israel in Group A.

Nick Buller, GB head coach, said: “The team was delighted to have reached the qualification standard for the European Games last month in Nice.

"We had two tough matches against the Czech Republic and France, but our wins against Portugal and Switzerland were strong. Since the qualifiers we have spent the last month working on tactics and preparing to face even tougher competition in Baku.

“The European Games will be a great opportunity for the athletes to take part in a multi-sport competition.

"We’re in a tough group with teams that train twice a day, but the athletes have been training hard and they are very determined to do well.”