Rafael Rhys Pollitt took gold when he entered the Leon Paul Junior Series (LPJS) Foil event in Durham on Saturday.

The young fencer, who attends the Royal Grammar School, started the tournament in fine fashion and lost just one bout out of 12 in the pool stage of the competition.

Those performances earned him a bye to the quarter finals where he advanced to the final four with a 10-2 victory.

Rhys Pollitt came up against Manchester’s Alex Home in the semi-finals, but the 12-year-old had little trouble in taking a 10-5 triumph which took him through to the final.

The Bucks youngster met Germany-based David Williams of the internationally renowned Fechtclub TBB in the tournament finale, and after a high quality contest Rhys Pollitt emerged with a 10-6 win to take the title.

Success in Durham follows his two previous medal winning outings at LPJS events: a gold medal in Bristol in February and a bronze in Truro at the beginning of March.

Rhys Pollitt gave due credit to his coach, GB Women’s champion, Dominique Szokolovics after his win.

He said: “Dom is a world class athlete in her own right, and her input with me is second to none. Plus all the staff at the RGS are supportive of my training, so I’m able to really go for it in my fencing.”