Borough youngsters win London Youth Games medals

East London Advertiser: Tower Hamlets won silver and bronze in the London Youth Games para BMX eventTower Hamlets won silver and bronze in the London Youth Games para BMX event (Image: Archant)

Brothers Liam and Luan Veras won gold for Tower Hamlets at the London Youth Games judo competition at Crystal Palace.

Liam (10) and Luan (12) came out on top in the under-30kg and under-42kg categories, showing great form, skill and control throughout their fights.

The brothers are already known for their skills in karate due to success in English, British and International events.

And the borough siblings are busy preparing for the Kent International Judo Championships next week, before they head to Croatia for the inaugural World Karate Federation Junior World Cup Championships.

Tower Hamlets’ BMX squad also had some youngsters on the podium at the weekend for the Youth Games Para event in the Lee Valley VeloPark.

Owen Frith and Abdelrahim Zekkour came away with silver and bronze medals respectively, which helped the borough squad finish 10th overall.

Teammates Alice Chaney, Ellie Fisher, Tanvir Ferdous, Vivienne Akpodafe, Mario Rodrigues, Brandon Cunningham and Jason Lam also showed great talent in the Tower Hamlets colours.

Tower Hamlets also competed at the Copper Box Arena in the girls’ handball finals.

The Tower Hamlets team performed brilliantly in their games against Kingston (5-1) and Kensington & Chelsea (5-2) but tasted defeat against Redbridge (4-0) and Greenwich (2-0) and finished third in group B behind Redbridge to place ninth overall.

The para athletics finals are due to take place today (Thursday), with gymnastics and mini para swimming next week, ahead of the grand finals at Crystal Palace on July 2-3, when Tower Hamlets’ boys chase table tennis glory.