KIRBY fencer Myles Ashforth won a silver medal at the British Youth Championships, in Sheffield.

He had qualified at the Eastern Region Youth Championships, winning silver in both Foil and Epee.

The Tendring Technology College student generously gave up his entry in the former to a clubmate who missed out on qualifying by one place.

Fencing in the under-16 boys' Epee, Ashforth won four of his five poule fights.

Three were won 5/0, including one against a Russian fencer representing Yorkshire.

This performance made him the eighth seed.

After a bye in the first round, Ashforth fenced the 25th seed, a tricky left-hander, and had his measure by the second period, winning 15/9.

The last-16 fight was against the ninth seed from Yorkshire, another left-hander.

Ashforth took control from the start, defeating his opponent 15/9.

The next fight was against the 17th seed from the North West and Ashforth worked his opponent out early enough to secure a 15/10 win.

In the semi-final, he met the fifth seed - a Frenchman fencing for the London Region.

They last met two years ago when Ashforth won the under-14 title.

This time the Frenchman was working with his club Leon Paul coach, who also coaches the GB Cadet squad.

The fight was tactical, with both fencers trying to draw the other in.

Several of the hits were doubles and the two fencers jockeyed for the lead throughout.

At 12/11 with only three seconds left, the Frenchman levelled the score.

Ashforth then flew down the piste at lightning speed, landing a flick to his opponent's arm to earn his place in the final, winning the bout 13/12.

In the final, Ashforth faced the third seed from the East Midlands region.

His opponent took an early lead but Ashforth fought back, thrilling the crowd with some impressive leaps to land his hits.

In the second period, the East Midlands fencer reclaimed the lead but Ashforth battled on.

With 7.9 seconds left in the second round, his opponent thought they would retreat to the ends of the piste until the time ran out.

Ashforth was having none of it, though, and, tearing down the piste, he struck out and landed a successful hit.

With 2.9 seconds left, he amazingly went for it again, but this time his opponent managed to fend him off.

Unfortunately, the risposte landed on Ashforth exactly as the time ended so counted against him.

In the final period, with the score at 12/13, Ashforth suffered another blow and then the Kirby boxer landed a hit, but it was a double so the fight was lost 13/15.

Ashforth took his defeat with good grace, narrowly missing out on his third British Youth title.