England’s men and women dominated the Senior Six Nations event held in Cardiff, securing all four titles on offer from the Welsh capital.
The event began on Friday evening with the team events where the Olympic system was used in preparation for next year’s Commonwealth Games – an event many of the players involved in Cardiff will be hoping to attend in Glasgow 2014.
The English men controlled the proceedings at the team event with all three players; Chris Doran, David McBeath and Gavin Evans, remaining unbeaten throughout the singles play. This included an excellent result for McBeath over 11-time Welsh Champion Ryan Jenkins.
After winning the team gold, McBeath went onto star in the individual event where three of the four semi-final places were booked by English players.
Evans lost a close match to Doran in their semi-final but the victor was unable to maintain his run at the final hurdle as McBeath took home the gold medal in four games.
The English women were in similarly aggressive form as the trio of Hannah Hicks, Karina Le Fevre and Tressa Armitage ensured both an English gold in the team event as well as an all-English final in the singles.
The girls came through a tough team encounter with Wales en route to their first title on Saturday with Hicks winning twice to seal a tight 3-2 win over the hosts.
The Hampshire-born 22-year-old then continued her form to remain undefeated en route to claiming gold in the women’s individual event after an exciting final against compatriot Karina Le Fevre.
Le Fevre had performed admirably to beat Welsh junior Charlotte Carey in a high-calibre semi-final but, despite establishing a 2-0 lead in the final, was unable to stop Hicks from securing her second gold of the tournament.
Full results can be seen here.
Written by Russell Moore (November 18, 2013)