Fencers from North London club ZFW dominated the podium at the Copa del Mundo under-20 foil event in Guatemala City.

Cameron Evans, 17, won gold and Matthew Abrahams, 19, took bronze in a field of competitors from 20 nations.

Abrahams had a better start to the day as he won all his fights in the initial poules round and was seeded second.

Evans lost a fight in the poules stage and was seeded fifth but both fought their way through a series of challenging matches that demanded physical and mental dexterity.

Abrahams earned bronze after losing 15-12 in the semi-finals to Benjamin Shih, who was representing Chinese Taipei, while Evans went on to defeat Shih 15-9 in the final to secure gold.

Delighted ZFW Fencing Club head coach Ziemek Wojciechowski said the medal wins at this junior World Cup level reflected "ice-breaking performances" for both Evans and Abrahams.

Both young fencers will return to international junior action in Bangkok, Thailand, in early December.

"Achieving my first junior World Cup medal was extremely satisfying," said Evans, who also thanked Wojciechowski, his other coaches, Anna Katkova and Renal Ganeev, and British Fencing having also won bronze at the under-23 London Cup at UEL.

Former Highgate School pupil Abrahams, who has trained with Wojciechowski since the age of nine, added: "I hope this is a stepping stone to future podium performances."

He also noted the support of British Fencing, with both ZFW members a part of the British Fencing Athlete Development Programme, funded by Sport England.

ZFW's senior fencers will compete at the Prince Takamado Cup in Japan, which is a test event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The Great Britain squad will include ZFW Olympians Richard Kruse and James-Andrew Davis and Abrahams will make his first outing at the senior World Cup level alongside British under-23 champion Dominic de Almeida, also of ZFW.

Other international fencers coached by Wojciechowski will also take the piste, including north London's Alexander Tofalides, who fences for Cyprus, Christopher Nagle of Australia and Tunisia's Mohamed Samandi.

*ZFW is run by Olympic coach Ziemek Wojciechowski with a team of dedicated experts and aims to boost the standard of fencing in Britain by providing a centre of excellence for elite fencers training for Olympic, international and national teams.

It also provides a learning programme with an emphasis on youngsters. ZFW operates from various venues in North London and elsewhere around the capital. For further details, visit zfw-fencing.co.uk.