WINNING his first senior international medal under the watchful eye of mentor Eddy Kavanagh is a prospect that has kept George Ramm going during a punishing year in exile.

The 19-year-old wrestler spent his formative years learning the ropes with Kavanagh at Sharples Wrestling Club but flew the nest last year to train on the continent.

After testing himself against some of Europe's finest wrestlers in Ukraine, Sweden and Germany, the hard yards look to be paying off after he became the first Britain to win a medal at the European Junior Championships.

Ramm will continue his odyssey at the world juniors in August and European Under-23s next year, but admits to having one eye on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, when his former coach will lead the English wrestling team on the Australian Gold Coast.

"The Commonwealth Games is the biggest event for an English wrestler, barring the Olympics, and if I'm able to qualify and go with Eddy that would be an amazing thing," he said.

"Since I started, Eddy has helped me so much, especially in my younger years of wrestling, which are some of the most important.

"The discipline I learned from Eddy at such an early age gave me the platform to go away from home and train in Europe while still a teenager."

Ramm expects plenty more ups and downs along the way before getting on the plane to Australia.

But after bouncing back from defeat against eventual champion Uruzbek Tsomartov in the semi-finals of European Juniors, going on to beat Poland's Patryk Olenczyn 9-4 to win bronze, he now knows he can compete with the best.

"The Euros were an amazing experience and a big result for me," he said.

"It's nice to see all the hard work and time away from home paying off.

"I had some good matches and the bronze medal match seemed like it took forever, but I knew after taking a 6-1 lead in the first round that, as long as I didn't make any mistakes and stayed focused, I would win."