A PROMISING young kickboxer who fractured his skull in a horrific fall at a Portuguese hotel is now back in training and aiming to retain the title he won last year.

Doctors said 12-year-old Connor Crake was lucky to be alive after falling 30ft on to a concrete area near the gardens of the hotel. He also suffered fractures to his wrist and ankle.

Connor, of Dringhouses, York, was staying at the hotel with his family while he competed in a kickboxing tournament in November. After wandering into a garden area with his brother and a friend one evening, Connor disappeared from sight and his mother, Sarah heard a cry for help.

She said: “Obviously it’s been a struggle, but he’s back at school now and back training. He’s a bit unhappy that he can’t compete yet though.

“I think a lot of it is in his mind because he’s aware that one of his feet is not quite back to how it should be.”

Sarah said the weeks Connor spent with his limbs in plaster were hard for him and he had suffered nightmares over the fall, but she said once the casts were off he “felt as though he was free at last”.

Her son also had a recent fall as he struggled to get out of a taxi at Christmas; luckily his mother was there to save the day.

She said: “It was difficult in the ice and it could have been nasty but I managed to catch him.

“There was a competition on Sunday and I said he was not ready for that, but hopefully he will be ready for the World Association Kickboxing Organisation’s championship in Nottingham in February.

“He wants to defend the British title for his weight group which he won last year.”

Connor’s father, Stuart, is still considering legal action against the hotel in Portugal.