Handball teams win London Youth Games medals

Barking & Dagenham youngsters proved to be a real handful for their rivals at the London Youth Games handball finals at the weekend.

The Copper Box Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was buzzing with excitement once again as borough teams from across the capital battled it out for medals.

And the Barking & Dagenham squads had most reason to cheer as they came away with gold and silver medals.

The girls had just missed out on winning bronze last year, but claimed their spot on top of the podium this time around.

And Barking & Dagenham’s boys finished as runners-up in their competition, also showing great improvement from last year’s ninth-placed finish.

The girls defeated Haringey (3-0), Havering (4-0) and Waltham Forest (7-0) in their group, but were edged out by Croydon (2-1) and had to settle for second place.

Their quarter-final tie against top seeds Hackney went to penalties, with Barking & Dagenham winning 2-1 to set up a semi-final meeting with Southwark.

And after recording a 2-0 win in that match, the girls dominated the final with a crowd-pleasing 9-2 victory against Richmond to earn maximum points for the Jubilee Trophy standings.

The boys thrashed Westminster (14-1) and Wandsworth (10-3) in their group, while also beating Kensington & Chelsea (7-2) and Greenwich (5-2).

A 4-3 loss to Islington could not deny them top spot and they saw off Hackney (4-2) in the quarter-finals and Lambeth (5-3) in the last four.

But Ealing won a tense final by a 2-1 margin to take gold and leave the borough boys with silver.

There was more to cheer for the girls’ judo squad, who combined for a team bronze in their event.