MONMOUTH sisters Katherine and Sara Kempe played a full part in helping Wales to success in last weekend's Youth Home Internationals fencing competition in Edinburgh.

Both the girls' teams were within a whisker of claiming their respective weapon trophies but just missed out when the hit scores were added up. Foilist Sara was part of the under-16 girls' foil team which defeated both Scotland and Northern Ireland but were edged out by the English, while Katherine was in a similar position in the under-18 girls' sabre, where the Welsh team recorded wins over England and Scotland, but found the Northern Irish just to strong.

Also in the team was Haberdashers' student Olivia Orchart, who helped the under-18 girls' foil team to victory against Northern Ireland and to creditable scores against strong English and Scottish sides.

Fellow Haberdashers' student Rachel Arnold was to have been in the under-18 girls epee team but was forced to drop out because of a back injury.

Overall, Wales finished second to England in the under-16 match and third behind England and Scotland in the under-18s.