ONE of Britain’s brightest hopes for next year’s London Olympics has revealed how injury left her fearing her career was over.

Johannah Leedham, of Little Sutton, is one of the best female basketball players this country has ever produced.

The 23-year-old point guard is a regular in the Great Britain’s women’s team, but her world came crashing down while she was playing for Polish team Kssse Azs-Pwsz Gorzow.

“I picked up an injury,” said Leedham, a former Ellesmere Port Catholic High School pupil. “It was in my knee and tests revealed it was a form of tendinopathy.”

Tendon injuries like patellar tendinitis are common in basketball and Leedham was told this particular type was degenerative and she needed to stop playing.

“I was gutted,” she said. “It was really hard. I had never had a bad injury before and I had never not been able to play basketball.

“I couldn’t do what I used to and I thought I would never play again.”

But while Gorzow released her to return home, Team GB kept faith with her, conscious of the fact that if they could keep her career alive, she could repay them with interest by stunning the world at the Olympics.

They invested time and money in medical care and rehabilitation for Leedham and even included her in the squad for the forthcoming four-game invitational tournament against Germany, Cuba and Latvia in Surrey which will act as a warm-up for the Eurobasket 2011 competition in Poland.

And while she will not be fit in time to play in Surrey, Leedham hopes to play some part in the GB v Atlanta Dream match at the MEN Arena in Manchester on May 29 to prove her fitness for Eurobasket.

“It has been a long, tough road and I have had my doubts along the way,” she said.

“Being out of the game for so long has been really difficult and I have had to find mental strength to get through.

“But I have had great support from Team GB, my family and friends and my boyfriend and they have helped me believe I can come back and continue to have the successful career I have worked for.

“I am close to making a comeback and there was a time when I thought that would never happen so I am grateful for that.”

Leedham, a former Ellesmere Port Panthers player, saw her career really take off when she played American college basketball at Franklin Pierce in New Hampshire.

She deferred her place in the women’s NBA in order to focus on helping Team GB qualify for the Olympics.

Tickets are still available for the GB v Atlanta Dream match at the MEN Arena. Contact 0844 8478000 or visit www.men-arena.com. Standard tickets are priced £20-£35 but quote BB11 for 25% off. This does not apply to courtside tickets priced £50-£70.