James and Thomas want to get to the top of sport

James Edwards travelled to Poland with England Under-15s and has just finished 13th out of 129 competitors from countries such as Hungary, Egypt and Russia.

He is currently ranked 20th in the Great Britain Under-20s rankings and also 10th in the Under-17s.

It comes on the back of impressive performances in the u17s British National Championships finishing in the top 10 of 43 competitors as well as a top 20 place in the u20 event.

Proud mum Jacqueline Edwards said: "His ranking puts him in the fabulous position to start the new season in September 2015 in 4th place in the U17 GBR rankings.

"After an amazing 12 months, yet another fantastic achievement for James is the news that he has now been selected to represent England in the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in Cape Town, South Africa in July this year.

"James is part of the team of five U17 men's sabre competitors travelling to Cape Town."

Edward successes this year also included reaching the quarter-finals of the British Youth Championships in Sheffield and bowed out after a close match.

In June last year, James was only 13 yet won the North West Regional, Open Age Championships beating two of his coaches along the way to top the podium and bring home the gold medal.

But fencing runs in the blood as his brother Thomas took gold in the regional qualifiers for the British Youth Championships this year.

Among the highlights for the pair included James being picked for the GB u17s squad to compete in Meylan, France in October last year then in December James and Thomas made the trip with the GB squad to compete in Eislingen in Germany.

James, aged 14, and Thomas, aged 15, both attend Walkden High School.

They train three nights per week at Marshall Fencing Club in Chadderton, Oldham and have one-to-one training with Head Coach, Stuart Marshall and Assistant Coach, Michael Swiffin.

Thomas and James first started to fence in 2011 and has been with their coach Stuart Marshall since that time.