Kayak squad impress at London Youth Games

East London Advertiser: A Tower Hamlets youngster in kayak slalom action at the London Youth Games (pic: LYG)A Tower Hamlets youngster in kayak slalom action at the London Youth Games (pic: LYG) (Image: Archant)

Tower Hamlets youngsters enjoyed more success at the Thames Water London Youth Games Regatta in Docklands at the weekend.

The borough squad has made it onto the podium in the kayak slalom event every year since 2011, winning gold in 2012.

And individual gold medals from junior racer Ross Dixon and senior Gabriella Leoni helped the team take silver in the overall standings to the delight of manager Will Tytler.

He said: “I feel very excited and I’m really proud of how they worked their way up to second.

East London Advertiser: A Tower Hamlets youngster with her medal at the London Youth Games kayak slalom event (pic: LYG)A Tower Hamlets youngster with her medal at the London Youth Games kayak slalom event (pic: LYG) (Image: Archant)

“I really enjoy teaching the team. It’s fun to see how excited the kids are and how excited they get.”

Rowing and kayak slalom events were also held last weekend and a two-day sailing competition is due to take place at King George V Reservoir in Enfield next weekend (June 20-21).

Points from the four regatta competitions will then be added together to determine the overall champions.

Tower Hamlets were also in action at the volleyball qualifying competition at the Score Centre in Leyton.

East London Advertiser: Tower Hamlets' girls' volleyball squad face the camera at the London Youth Games qualifiers (pic: LYG)Tower Hamlets' girls' volleyball squad face the camera at the London Youth Games qualifiers (pic: LYG) (Image: Archant)

But the girls team just missed out on a place in the quarter-finals after finishing third in their group.

Tower Hamlets beat local rivals Newham (26-24) and Redbridge (25-8), but fell to defeats against Richmond (25-16), Lambeth (25-21) and Kingston (25-20) to finish in ninth place.

The boys got the better of their Lambeth rivals (26-24), but lost to Haringey (25-20), Kensington & Chelsea (25-13), Waltham Forest (25-13), Hounslow (25-7), Croydon (25-12), Kingston (25-13) and Barnet (25-15).

Borough squads are set to battle it out in a host of other events at Redbridge Sport & Leisure this weekend, including the fencing finals.