News & Events

Weightlifter Zoe Smith marked the beginning of the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games Mini Games by lighting the flame at the Opening Ceremony on Thursday morning at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

The 17 year old Commonwealth Games bronze medallist walked past the two thousand strong  field of young competitors with the torch to officially declare the London Youth Games open.

Hounslow’s Mayor Councillor Amrit Mann spent the day cheering Hounslow’s young sports stars on to three top ten finishes, in eight different sports. The Sportshall Athletics team put in some impressive performances to finish in 10th place thanks to the efforts of Hounslow’s Athletics Development Officer Jess Weaver who is hoping to set up a new Athletics Club at the Osterley Sports and Athletics Centre.

The Tag Rugby Team coached by Leroy Arbouine and Naveen Bhandari from Grasshoppers RFC improved on last year’s impressive fifth place to finish third. The team were unlucky to lose by a single try in a hard fought semi final but showed great character to bounce back in the 3rd and 4th place play off to win their bronze medals in style.
Hounslow’s star performance of the mini games came from the 3 on 3 Basketball Team, coached by Rudi Harriet from Feltham Warriors Basketball Club who won silver medals after losing a tense and hard fought final to Lewisham by only one basket 8-9. This was an amazing improvement of 27 places over last year’s position.

The Mini Games has provided an excellent opportunity for the young people of Hounslow to represent their borough and participate in sport. This year we had over 260 primary school children take part in the mini games from the open trials in May, through the weeks of training and to the final event on Thursday.

Main Games Weekend

The Mini Games marked the start of an exciting weekend of youth sport in the capital, culminating in the finals on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd July at Crystal Palace, where 6,000 secondary age children competed across 18 sports.

Team Hounslow had a great weekend, with some inspiring team performances culminating in ten Hounslow teams placing in the top ten:

3rd  Boys Hockey    
5th  Girls Tag Rugby   
5th  Girls Squash
5th  Girls Basketball
6th  Boys Table Tennis
7th  Weightlifting
9th  Cycling, Badminton and Boccia
10th  Trampolining

There were some outstanding individual performances as well. Callum Oliver narrowly missed out on the medals in the Juvenile Cycling competition finishing in a very impressive 5th place and Alex Bandarian was even closer to a medal finishing in 4th place in the senior 50m butterfly. However Feltham Community College pupil, Josh Shackleton showed amazing commitment and enthusiasm to win silver in the year 9 indoor rowing competition despite having already competed in the javelin and 200m sprint competition. Hounslow’s other medal was won by Manvir Bhandal, who placed third, taking away a bronze medal in the Archery Competition.
 

With the Girls Tag Rugby, Basketball and Squash Teams all finishing in 5th place narrowly missing out on the medals, the girls of Hounslow have shown that they are a force to be reckoned with. Coached by Grasshoppers RFC, Feltham Warriors Basketball Club and squash coach Nick Kalisperas respectively. Nick is particularly keen to identify girls and boys who are keen to take up squash and train for next year. For more information contact Hounslow’s Sports Development Team on 0845 456 2856/7 or e-mail jo.valks@fusion-lifestyle.com or chris.jones@fusion-lifestyle.com.

The outstanding team performance of the weekend came from the Boys Hockey Team coached by Jenny Wile from Indian Gymkhana Hockey Club, who had qualified for the finals in 12th place. However they threw the form guide out of the window and put in some amazing team performances to battle through into the bronze medal position. The winning goal in the 3rd and 4th place play off was scored by Rishi Gupta and some amazing saves were made by stand in goalie Michael Wessels.

Sport is definitely on the up in Hounslow and Jo Valks and Chris Jones from Fusion’s Sports Development Team would like to thank all the parents, competitors and volunteers for all their help and support in making this year’s games such a success. Most teams will have the opportunity to continue training with local sports clubs throughout the year so there is a real potential that results will be even better next year, so watch this space!