REMEMBER the name, because Freya Johnson is a world champion in the making – though in which sport that will be is up for debate.

The 12-year-old took up Brazilian jiu jitsu after she blazed a trail through all of the Olympic freestyle wrestling opponents in front of her.

Struggling to find viable wrestling opponents to train with or compete against Freya was advised to take up the martial art but a similar pattern emerged and she is once again having to fight bigger, more experienced – and more male – competitors.

The youngster first started wrestling at the age of eight, following in older brother Marcus' footprints, and her progression meant she quickly ran out of training partners willing or able to match her in the gym. Freya was having to train in all-male groups and travel far and wide for meaningful competition against female fighters.

But a lack of viable sparring partners cannot have stalled her progress too heavily as, last October, she collected gold at the British Junior Wrestling Championship, as a member of Bolton Olympic Wrestling Club. That victory came six months after Freya won the English Open title in the 37-kilo category. And both victories meant Freya retained the titles she won in 2014.

The final competition of 2015 was the Derbyshire Open in November, from which Freya brought home silver. That was not a disappointing outcome though, since she was having to compete in the 40-kg male category.

Without the competition in the wrestling ranks one of her coaches suggested Freya tried Brazilian jiu jitsu, knowing it is more popular with female participants. So Freya joined the Bolton branch of Gracie Barra and was quickly thrown into the mix with more experienced martial artists.

Freya is now training with the chain's elite squad, based in Birmingham

"It isn't ideal," said Freya's mother Kila. "But it amazes us just how quickly she has picked up the jiu jitsu. The moves come easily to her and she has got great strength, which is a bit of a worry for me at home! She has been taking on yellow-belt fighters who may be more technical but don't have the strength to match her. It was not an ideal situation to have her go up against males but what we do know is that it makes her work even harder.

"She has had some time off from the wrestling and her football (Freya recently joined Tiki Taka after leaving Bolton Wanderers juniors) but she has plans to start that again soon.

"She'll be busy in the next few months though, there are a couple of competitions coming up and the UK is hosting the European Championships later this year."

Freya's European challengers will not know what has hit them.