12:50pm Friday 9th July 2010
Harrow badminton ace Hamza Khan couldn't hide his delight after skippering his borough to gold at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games at Crystal Palace.
The 16-year-old led from the front as Harrow marched through to the semi-finals before beating off Hillingdon to set up a gold-medal match with Havering.
Khan and co were pushed all the way by Havering but held their nerve superbly with a 3-2 win.
And Khan – who attends The John Lyon School – was quick to deflect praise away from himself and onto the team after their gold-medal winning heroics.
"We coped really well under the pressure because it could have got to us but we all grouped together and managed to pull through," said Khan.
"It was a hard fought competition and Havering made us fight right to the end. This was very much a group effort and the girl's doubles were tremendous.
"This is such a good event to win and I feel very proud of what my team have achieved.
"We have had to work really hard to get this trophy and I am just delighted to walk away with it."
Khan's name will go down in history alongside Rio Ferdinand, Bradley Wiggins and Christine Ohuruogu – who all competed at the London Youth Games in their formative years.
Balfour Beatty is committed to helping raise the aspirations, motivation and attainment levels of young people in the communities in which it operates and has committed at least £1.7 million to help develop the London Youth Games until 2013.
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