THE telephone call Robert Tobin was waiting for came through when the sprinter learned of his selection for the forthcoming European Indoor Championships in Birmingham.

The 23-year-old Basingstoke and Mid-Hants AC star has been chosen by the Great Britain selectors for both the individual 400 metres and for the 4x400m relay squad.

Tobin could, therefore, be in action on each of the three days of the championships.

His schedule at the National Indoor Arena begins on Friday, March 2, with the individual heats in the morning. If successful, the runner from Old Basing will contest the afternoon semi-finals and, hopefully, the following day's final.

Tobin could not progress beyond two major championship semi-finals last year but he showed last weekend that he was over his calf injury problem when he won at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham.

He looked very impressive until he was overhauled on the run-in by Xavier Carter, who boasts the second-fastest-ever 200m time.

However, Carter and fellow American Bershawn Jackson were later disqualified for running outside their lanes.

Tobin's winning time, in an international field, of 46.07sec was the fastest time by a British runner this year, and the second best in Europe.

Before the championships, the former Robert May's schoolboy plans two hard training sessions on Saturday and Sunday and will then ease down his schedule until the event.

Meanwhile, this coming weekend presents Charlie Purdue with probably her biggest challenge to date. The 15-year-old cross-country star contests the world championship trials for the British under-20 team.

The Hook-based Aldershot, Farnham and District athlete, has targeted selection to run in Mombasa, Kenya, next month as the main goal for her winter season.'