A youth team from the United States Fencing Association won the Leon Paul Junior Series team epe competition hosted by King's College School in Wimbledon.

The American team has been touring Britain for the last week, led by fencing coach Andrea Lagan from Boulder, Colorado.

The competition featured 13 teams from various parts of

the country including one from Cumbria.

Mixed

A mixed USFA team consisting of Andrew O'Kane, Meagan Cook and Katherine Lynch took part in the U13 event and quickly showed they were a match for anything the Brits could throw at them, writes Arnold Peyton.

They ventually winning their final against KCS Wimbledon in a decisive manner.

Fifteen-year-old Anna Cillo, also from Boulder, Colorado, and one of the United

States' up-and-coming lady Cadet fencers, joined the KCS Wimbledon U19 team.

She fenced superbly and to great effect, albeit not quite enough to help Wimbledon stave off eventual defeat at the hands of the West Midlands.

The U17 event was won by Whitgift School from Croydon and the U15 by a mixed team from Wellesbourne Sword fencing club.

This is the first year that the USFA youth group have come to Wimbledon on their tour but they so impressed their hosts that the KCS organisers have

invited them back for next year's tournament.

December 3, 2001 16:30