Henriette Hadalin stands with her winners' trophy, alongside boys' bronze medallist Jacob Haynes

WELWYN Hatfield fencers tasted medal success at the Spring Academy Cup in London against a strong field from around the south east.

Welwyn Hatfield Fencer Henrietta, pink helmet, in the final

In the juniors Henriette Hadalin took the gold medal for the U10 girls and Jacob Haynes claimed bronze in the boys in the U10 foil.

After seven bouts each in a combined boys and girls poule round, the rankings saw Henriette unbeaten as her cool blade-work left her in second place.

Jacob’s calm and strong lunge carried him to fifth while Tom Jack’s speed and determination placed him eighth.

The competition split at the direct elimination stage into separate direct elimination competitions for the boys and girls.

Gabor Hadalin is now the Hertfordshire Senior Champion

In an exciting bout, on the finals piste in front of an appreciative crowd of fencers, parents and coaches, Henriette out-lunged her opponent comfortably winning seven points to four to add the gold medal for the Spring Competition to her silver from the Winter Competition.

Having won his first direct elimination bout, Jacob kept his cool in a nail-biting quarter final which saw the fencers’ scores tied on six points before he struck the winning hit to progress to the semi-final from which he emerged triumphant to take the joint bronze.

Although Tom easily saw off his first opponent in the direct elimination, due to a refereeing error the bout was played on well beyond the seven points needed for a win and wasn’t halted until the pair had fought to 11 points to four.

A tired Tom went straight into his quarter-final fight but lost out at that stage to finish a creditable seventh overall.

The day after in Hatfield, Henriette’s dad Gabor finished off a golden weekend for the Hadalin family.

In what has been described as the toughest Hertfordshire Senior Epee competition in over 30 years, Gabor fought his way through against a field of 25 in the men’s Epee competition to become Hertfordshire Senior Champion.

Erika Cserny also won gold in the women’s epee.

Josh Henriques, Ethem Umut Koc, Adeel Iqbal, Chris Nicholls and Andrew Marunchak all impressed at the event.

Gabor Hadalin is one of the country’s top fencing coaches and one of only two level 5 coaches working in the county. With the support of parents he has set up a new fencing club called Salle Hadalin.

The classes at Hatfield Leisure Centre are on Saturdays, 10am-11am for ages 8-14, and 11am-12pm for 11-14.

Visit www.hertsfencingclub.weebly.com, contact Gabor on 07967621316 or by email on hertsfencingclub@gmail.com for more information.