Stephen Perse Cambridge Senior School’s Rose Raju has returned with both an individual and team silver medal from the European Fencing Confederation (EFC) Under-14 Women’s Foil competition in Spain.
Having first been introduced to fencing in Year 2 at Stephen Perse Cambridge Junior School and after just two years of intermediate to advance level fencing with her local club, Cambridge Sword, 11-year-old Raju was the youngest competitor to be selected for the England Under-14 fencing team at the international event.
Raju went into the tournament with plenty of success already to her name, including winning the Eastern Region Qualifiers earlier this year to leave her ranked 19 in the European rankings.
And she has now built on that achievement by helping her country to finish runners-up.
The Year 7 pupil said: “I wasn't expecting a silver for England, but this is my proudest achievement.
“Getting to Spain and training with the England team was really exciting. It was a very long day of fencing, but I enjoyed every moment of it and even made new friends with other international competitors.
“My success so far is thanks to both my school, Stephen Perse Cambridge, for starting me in fencing when I was in Year 2 and my club, Cambridge Sword, that got me to this amazing point in my fencing journey.”
Raju’s next major event will be the British Youth Championships in Sheffield this summer.
