PARALYMPIC hopeful Shane Hartop is fundraising for new equipment to so he can achieve his dream of competing in the 2016 games in Rio.

The 22-year-old, of Five Stiles Road, Marlborough, suffers spinal muscular atrophy, a muscle-wasting condition.

He was first introduce to boccia, a target sport for the disabled that is similar to bowls,when he was 12 and was at Treloars Physically Disabled School and College in Alton.

He said: “Winning is the main thing. The higher I get up, the higher the pressure of competing at that level is.

“It’s almost like a drug. You get addicted to the adrenaline.

“I want to get gold at the Paralymics and nothing is going to stop me.”

Mr Hartop, who trains at Marlborough Leisure Centre, is hoping to raise £3,200 for a new ramp which is used to release the ball towards the jack.

Since launching his fundraising appeal two weeks ago he has already raised almost £1,400 with people as far away as America, Australia and Canada donating.

He said: “I’m very grateful for the money I’ve raised. I’ve got loads of people helping me.

“The ramp I’ve got at the minute is one of the best out there but the stand has gone a bit unstable.

“I’ve got the nationals at the end of the month and if I get into the top four I automatically qualify for the Euros and that will put me straight into the GB team.

“I’m at that level but I just need that final push.”

At the moment Mr Hartop trains between six and seven hours a week and once a month with the Southern All Stars based in Alton in Hampshire.

He anticipates that he will have to increase this to four hours a day three to four times a week when he rises through the ranks.

His dad, Dean Hartop, 47, is his full-time carer and ramp assistant. He said: “I’m totally behind him.

“When he’s playing I’m sat next to him but I’m not allowed to say anything which is horrible because you want to turn around and say ‘no, don’t do that shot’.

“When we go to the nationals in Sheffield the whole family is going. There’s going to be in access of 20 people there cheering him on.

“He was on the verge GB shooting squad but he’s been in and out of hospital all his life and the last bout of pneumonia meant that he can’t shoot anymore because he can’t hold his breath that much so he’s turned to boccia now to get his gold.”

To sponsor Mr Hartop visit www.gofundme.com/shanesbocciaramp