More than 140 boys and girls took part in the Surrey Youth Fencing Championships at Whitgift, Croydon, last Sunday.

They competed in the three Olympic weapons foil, epee and sabre, writes Arnold Peyton.

Entrants ranged from novices to British youth internationals and the current British Fencing Association president Keith Smith, a housemaster at Whitgift, skilfully martialled the vast event.

The host school, Whitgift, dominated the mixed sabre events as usual, winning

gold in each of the four age groups.

The only serious challenge came from Epsom College who won three bronze medals.

Whitgift also won the U18 epee giving the school the largest number of golds of the day, not to mention a handful of bronze medals too.

King's College School, Wimbledon, won three gold medals (two epee and one foil), while Woking and Salle Coton both won two, and Guildford, Claremont Blades and Ashburton all won one each.

Woking, Salle Coton, KCS Wimbledon and Wimbledon High School all achieved excellent medal placings overall with Putney High School and Claremont also high in the league tables.

Remarkable

Three fencers put in remarkable overall performances, all in the U14 age group.

Patrick McGlone, a 12 year old pupil at Rutlish School in Merton Park and a member of KCS Wimbledon Fencing Club, won the boys' foil with a decisive win over clubmate Luka Lukic. Patrick went on to win the mixed epee beating Emily Bottle of Woking with a display of fencing skill that would

have done credit to many twice his age.

In addition to her silver medal, Emily put in a plucky performance to win the

girls' foil. Jeyatesh Sriskandarajah from Whitgift School won bronze medals in both the boys' foil and the epee and was unlucky not to win through

to a final.

Girls who deserve special mention include Alexandra Kay of Woking, who won

silver in the U18 epee, and Mary Cohen of Putney High School who won the silver in the U16 epee event.

Both fenced superbly and won their medals with impressive displays against tough opposition leading up to

their finals.

In the U16 mixed sabre event, Sarah Allt-Graham from

Wimbledon High School found herself the only girl competitor among a substantial group of boys but she battled through to win a bronze medal

nonetheless, her first award in a sabre competition.

Championship winners

Foil: Girls U12: Stephanie Ties (Guildford), Boys U12: Jack Taylor (Salle Coton), Girls U14: Emily Bottle (Woking), Boys U14: Patrick McGlone (KCS Wimbledon), Girls U16: Sophie Marment (Woking), Boys U16: Guy Haddon-Grant (Claremont), Girls U18: Angela Coton (Salle Coton), Boys U18: Elco Bakker (Ashburton).

Sabre: U12 Mixed: Oliver Arnold (Whitgift), U14 Mixed Alex Massey (Whitgift), U16 Mixed Seung-Wook Lyeo (Whitgift), U18 Mixed James Brambley (Whitgift).

Epee: U14 Mixed: Patrick McGlone (KCS Wimbledon), U16 Mixed Jonathan Bradley (KCS Wimbledon), U18 Mixed Epee: Kugajeevan Vigneswaran (Whitgift).

November 12, 2001 12:00