Students from Bancroft’s School in Woodford Green represented Redbridge at badminton in the London Youth Games, helping win three medals at the Olympic Park’s Copper Box Arena.

The competition doubles as a county qualifier round for the National Championships and coach John Raw wants his students to continue their fine form into regional qualifying.

He said: “I was delighted with the performances, and look forward to the regional round, where hopefully we can go one better than last year and get to the final of the National Schools Championships.”

Bancroft’s key stage four boys, Ved Patwardhan, Rushab Shah, Hayden Poon and Parashan Clare cruised through the final of their tournament before having to dig deep to beat Havering’s Hall Mead School 3-2 in the final and take home the gold.

There was no such trouble for Roshni Parmar, Shreeya Mehta, Anyay Shah and Vidhi Garg, who represented Redbridge in the key stage three girls’ tournament.

They won their final 5-0 against Bexley Grammar School having not dropped a single game in the group stage.

The key stage threeboys were unfortunate to lose to the competition’s eventual winners, Havering’s Coopers Coborn School, but regrouped to win the bronze medal play-off against Newham’s Brampton Manor.

Redbridge were also represented by Woodford County High School, who finished third in the Key Stage Four girls’ category.

With success under their belts, Redbridge will now head to Crystal palace on March 24 to compete in the regional round of the National Championships.