Medal glory for Tower Hamlets at London Youth Games

Tower Hamlets youngsters were in sparkling form at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games Spring Finals on 24th March, winning a bronze medal. Europe’s largest annual youth sports event saw around 2,500 young people from across London competing at the National Sports Centre, Crystal Palace. The borough was represented by Stepney Green College.

Each of the schools who competed in the badminton finals had come through a tough qualifying competition in February and there was a high standard of badminton throughout. Tower Hamlet’s finished third in their mini-league on the day, just behind gold medal winners Sutton and silver medal winners Redbridge.

Team Manager Giovanni Giordano said: “Just being here was the target really. I mean we’ve already exceeded what we expected so just to get to this round was a positive. It’s massive just to go up to the next level just to show the boys and experience this kind of competition.”

Medals were presented to players by British ex-athlete Jo Mersh (pictured).

Sportshall Athletics, Badminton, Netball , Football, Boccia, Hockey, Inclusive Zone Basketball and Water Polo are among 31 sports in the 2015 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games. The London Youth Games is Europe’s largest annual youth sports event and is driving the legacy for increased participation in competitive sport and volunteering for young Londoners. A record 126,897 young Londoners took part in the record-breaking 2014 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games, taking the event to over 1 million participants since it first launched in 1977. To find out more about the competing or volunteering at London Youth Games, visit www.londonyouthgames.org or follow @ldnyouthgames <http://www.twitter.com/ldnyouthgames> on Twitter