Borough also win BMX medals

Havering enjoyed one of their best medal hauls in recent years at the London Youth Games judo finals at Crystal Palace at the weekend.

The borough squad landed five gold medals, thanks to Zak Morrison, Amy Bundy, Harry West, Remi Walker and William Cross, while Mitchell James Kennedy and Bobby King picked up silvers.

Kazys Murkstys added a bronze medal to the haul, while Tommy Barker finished fifth, but Mason Walker was unplaced and Jamie King and James Cliff had to withdraw with injury.

Havering youngsters also pedalled to two silver medals in the London Youth Games BMX competition at Lee Valley VeloPark.

Joshua Wallis and Amy Willats made it onto the podium, while Lucy Kerr, Ben Maynard, Lochlan Dyer, Luca Johnson, Upton Wheatley, Alfie Nugent, Freddy Nugent, Freddie Barlow and Toby Manyard also represented the borough.

And Havering also showcased their talent in the cycling events, with Lily Bath (24th), Johnny Christmas (55th) and Billy Fox (56th) competing in the girls’ and boys’ A/B time trials.

Aimee O’Sullivan was 13th in the girls’ C/D/E time trial in a time of 6.48, with Harry Jey (27th), Frederick Barlow (36th) and Sam Chaplin (47th) in action for the boys.

A testing road race saw Emily James finish 15th in 33.52 for the girls and Fox was 18th for the boys in 32.57.

n Havering’s handball teams finished in a share of ninth place at the Copper Box Arena at the weekend.

The boys tasted success against Sutton (5-3), Newham (6-3) and Bexley (4-0) and drew 2-2 with Barnet, but narrowly lost 4-3 against Lambeth to finish third in their group, just missing out on the quarter-finals.

It was a similar story for the girls as they managed convincing wins against Haringey (4-0) and Waltham Forest (6-1) and drew 1-1 with Croydon, but were beaten by eventual gold medalists Barking & Dagenham (4-0).

Three years on from confirmation of a three-fold increase in its funding from Sport England, England Handball is continuing to witness a growth in the number of people playing the sport.

Much of the rise in participation is down to the number of young people playing in affiliated teams and, thanks to annual sporting events such as London Youth Games, previously unfavoured sports such as handball and BMX have become increasingly popular throughout the capital and the rest of the country.