IT’S been an exciting few weeks for Taunton hockey player Tim Nurse, who started a degree at the University of Bath last month and is now out in Malaysia representing Great Britain Under-21s in the prestigious Sultan of Johor Cup.

Nurse, who is studying Sports Performance at Bath, is part of an 18-strong squad for the annual tournament in Asia, which this year will see GB take on Australia, India, Japan, United States and the host country.

The step up to Under-21 level follows a highly-successful junior career for Nurse, who has been capped several times for England Under-18s and Under-16s.

He also won the ‘Youth, Boys 18 and under’ accolade at this year’s Hockey Writers’ Club Higgins Group Youth and Junior Player of the Year Awards.

As well as the University men’s team, midfielder Nurse will also play for Team Bath Buccaneers in the EHL West Conference, having previously competed at that level for Isca.

Nurse, a former Queen’s College student, will be hoping to emulate fellow Sports Performance student Peter Scott and former Buccs player Liam Sanford, who both competed at the Sultan of Johor Cup in the past before going on to earn senior caps for their country.

The 2017 tournament begins this Sunday (October 22), with Great Britain facing Malaysia in their opening fixture - they then take on the United States on Monday and Australia next Wednesday.