The strength of Camden Fencing Club’s sabre programme was underlined at the weekend as Jonathon Webb and Rubin Amsalem both reached the last eight of the prestigious Goppingen tournament in Germany.

Webb and Amsalem are Britain’s top two sabre fencers in the Under-17 cadet age group – and this was the first time that two British fencers had reached the ‘final tableau’ of a European cadet competition.

Goppingen is the strongest tournament on the circuit this year and it attracted an entry of 195 boys, including all of the major national squads apart from the USA.

Webb finished seventh overall and is now ranked seventh in Europe, having won five of his six pool matches to advance to the knockout stages, and he then eliminated four rivals from Poland, Hungary, Russia and France.

He was eventually beaten 15-12 by the German fencer Gert, who went on to win the tournament for the second successive year.

Amsalem finished eighth, having also won five of his six pool matches and gone on to beat opponents from Germany and Ukraine.

The Camden fencer also eliminated the top seed, Hofmann from Germany, and his British team-mate William Deary before narrowly losing 15-14 to Italy’s Dreossi.

It was a major breakthrough for Amsalem, whose previous best placing on the circuit was 19th, and he is now ranked 33rd in Europe.

Two other Camden fencers represented Britain in Goppingen, with William Moore finishing 85th and Nathan Potter finishing 113th.

This all follows Soji Aiyenuro’s 23rd-placed finish at the Under-20 World Cup in Dormagen last week, which was Britain’s best junior result this season and took him to 31st on the world circuit. He is also ranked No1 in Britain in his age group.

Camden will soon be hosting the GLL Camden International, which is also on the European cadet circuit and takes place on January 12 and 13.