British fencers beat Australia in both team finals

Posted: Sunday 18th January 2009 | 10:27

BRITISH fencers continue to dominate at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney.

DOMINANT: Great Britain underlined their strength by winning eight of the ten fencing medals at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival

After sweeping six of the eight individuals medals, Britain's youngsters completed their haul by winning both the team events.

Elisa Albini, Caitlin Chang, Corinna Lawrence and Hannah Lawrence swept aside hosts Australia 45-20 in a one-sided women's final.

"We're really proud to win the gold medal because we pulled together really well to fence as a team," said Corinna Lawrence.

"We couldn't have asked for anything better. Everyone on the team worked really well and took the pressure off each other."

And the men's team of Luka Kuhlmey, Benjamin White, Jonathan May and Jason Retter were also too strong for Australia in their final, triumphing 45-37.

"After losing to Malaysia in the pool rounds we had to fence them again in the direct elimination round so we went in with a much more coherent game plan," said Retter.

"We were fairly confident against the Australians and we felt that we had them scared so we took control early."

And the performance of both teams earned the praise of coach Graham Watts.

"This was way more than what I'd expected from the team," he said.

"I expected us to medal because we are such a strong team but to win all the gold medals is just absolutely fantastic."