NEWHAM earned a place in the record books after successfully defending the fencing trophy at the London Youth Games at the weekend. Not only did they retain the trophy, they also made it a hat-trick of wins, a feat that has only been achieved by one other

NEWHAM earned a place in the record books after successfully defending the fencing trophy at the London Youth Games at the weekend.

Not only did they retain the trophy, they also made it a hat-trick of wins, a feat that has only been achieved by one other borough - Kensington and Chelsea.

The Newham team was made up of a number of Newham Swords members, including Alan Lozovik, Kamal Minott, Jai Birch, Florian Kabasubabo, Robbie Shaw, Joao De Sousa, Alex Savin, Amol Rattan, Don Isiko, Boris Kabasubabo, Matt Neal and Dylan Nunez.

Team manager Linda Strachan was delighted with the victory.

"This was a special achievement, especially as only one other borough had ever done it," she said.

Fellow Swords coach Pierre Harper, added: "This is great preparation for the English Youth Championships, being held in Hatfield at the end of the month."

It has been a busy month for Newham Swords as they also set a new club record by taking 12 medals in one weekend the previous week.

They picked up 11 medals at the Essex Youth Championships in Chelmsford, before England international Ife Kubler-Ageymon took bronze at the Portsmouth National event.

At the Essex Championships, Kamal Minott, Rajan Rai, Amol Rattan and Rachel Shaw all took gold in the boys' under-12, boys' under-14, boys under-16 and girls' under-10 respectively.

Alan Lozovik (silver) and Florian Kabasubabo (bronze) impressed in the boys' under-12, while both Daniel Alzapiedi and Jai Birch won bronze in the boys' under-14 event.

Alex Savin earned a silver in the boys' under-16 category, while Alice Campbell took bronze in the girls' under-10 event.

If you would like to join Newham Swords, or simply try out fencing, then contact Linda Strachan on 07956 618898.