TALENTED ROSS fencer, Daniel Robinson,won an individual Silver Medal and team Gold for England at the Junior Commonwealth Fencing Championships, which was held in Penang,Malaysia during February, 16th to the 21st.

Serious injury Daniel was feeling confident, but he was extremely unfortunate to have a freak accident while walking to a restaurant on the Monday evening. The concrete cover of a 6-foot street drain gave way, Daniel fell into it, injuring his left shin. He suffered deep gashes to his leg and it became severely swollen. It was extremely painful to put any weight on to it and, to make matters worse, it became infected later in

the week. Daniel had to go to hospital where medication was prescribed. That night Daniel, who was in shock, had very little sleep due to the pain and anxiety of whether he could, or would actually be allowed, to fence at all. Daniel spent the day before the individual applying ice and resting his leg, and there was still doubt whether he would be able to compete.

Later that day, he made the decision to fence, demonstrating true grit and determination. Exceptional start Daniel made an exceptional start in the individual men's foil, winning all his poule fights. He only had three hits against him, making him No 1 seed going into the direct elimination

rounds. Having achieved a bye into the Last 32, Daniel met Guernsey fencer Thomas Miller. He decided to pace himself in the early stages in order to progress as much as possible with his injury, and although he won this fight 15 – 13, he was in full control and did not push himself too hard.

Comfortable win Daniel then met the No 16 seed from Australia, Stephen Dooley. In the early stages of this fight it was 'hit for hit' up to five each, then Daniel extended his lead and won comfortably 15 – 7. His next opponent was another Australian, John Downes. Although Daniel was in control and never once lost the lead, the Australian was awkward, and very much the counter attacker. Daniel won the fight 15 – 12, gaining a place in the semi-finals against Matthew Lam from Singapore. Lam had evidently taken

notice of Daniel's style and tried to force errors, but Daniel outwitted him and set him up to take advantage thrashing him 15 – 5, comfortably

making the final. All English final In the final Daniel met fellow Englishman, Ben Peggs, who knew that Daniel was carrying an injury. Daniel had to compensate for not being able to put very much weight on his back

leg and Peggs pulled out an early lead of 6 – 1. However, with muchdetermination, Daniel pushed as much as he could and brought the score line back in his favour 7 – 6. It was then very much hit for hit, right up to 13 each. Unfortunately, Daniel could not hold on and lost 13 – 15 to take the silver. This was a magnificent achievement, and a courageous one, in the circumstances. Team event Two days later, the men's foil team event

commenced. The England team of Daniel, Ben Peggs, Tom Hendrie, Peter Holder and Tom Potterton were favourites to win, having reaped gold and silver in the individual event. With a bye to the Last 8, the No 1 seeds began their

quest for gold by thrashing Guernsey 45 – 15 to meet Wales in the quarter-finals, beating them 45 – 29. The final was against 3rd seeds Australia, and England won team gold comfortably 45 – 32. As England won the most events of the Championships, they also won the India Cup. Daniel is grateful to Ross Lions, Shaun Garley,Robbie Phelps of Phelps Brothers Scrap

Merchants, Gloucestershire Amateur Fencing Union and Hereford & Worcester County Fencing Union for their kind and generous donations towards the costs of his Commonwealth Championships expenses. As a bursary recipient,

Daniel he is also grateful to Ready, Steady, Win and to Peter and Carole Crawford of HFT Forklifts Ltd for their support. Daniel, who is presently 12th in the UK senior

foil rankings, will be concentrating on working

towards senior selection to foreign events in

order to progress in his sport.