The second day of the UK School Games saw some fantastic action in all eight of the participating sports. Badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball picked up where they left off on the opening day, while the athletes, fencers, gymnasts, and swimmers got their first chance to shine in Coventry.

Athletics
Newark’s Luke Peters was one of the most impressive winners in the field as the athletics programme got under way in brilliant sunshine at the University of Warwick.
 
The 16-year-old threw a massive 58.48m, adding 56cm to his personal best, to take the gold medal ahead of pre-event favourites Ben Gibb and Paul Allsopp.
 
Peters said: “I just really wanted the gold medal here today. There was no way I was going to go home without it. The UK School Games has been great all week – the atmosphere has been really good back in the athletes’ village.”
 
Other winners on day one included Peters’ East Midlands team mate Laura Samuel in the women’s long jump and Tyler Thompson who threw a new Welsh record in the mixed seated discus.
 
Meanwhile Coventry’s Katherine Connolly made the most of home advantage to win the women’s high jump with a new personal best of 1.71m.

Badminton
Wales' Rhys Pritchard was the star on the badminton court today where he stormed into the boy's singles semi-finals without dropping a set.

Pritchard went into his quarter final against England's Joshua Green with high hopes but admitted he was overwhelmed by his win: "I never thought I would get this far in the competition and I'm so happy with my result today," he said.

The Welshman will face Scotland's Andrew Gilliland in Sunday's semi-final whilst the other match will be played between England' Peter Briggs and Northern Ireland's Tony Stephenson.

In the girls' competition, England's Hayley Rogers was looking in good form as she eased into the semi-finals with a two games to nil win over team-mate Helena Lewczynska and with the boys and girls singles knockout competition continuing tomorrow, as well as the doubles and mixed doubles event, the 2007 UK School Games badminton competition looks set for a thrilling final day.

Fencing
The English team completed a clean sweep of the medals on the opening day of the fencing competition at the Ricoh Arena.
 
Experience of the UK School Games eventually counted, with five of the six gold medals awarded to those who competed last year in Glasgow.

Bath’s Sophie Williams was the stand out performer as she took gold for the second year running in the women’s sabre competition, whilst James Honeybone also gained a nail-biting victory 15 -14 in the men’s sabre final, bettering his bronze from 2006. Marcus Mepstead, Corinna Lawrence and Elizabeth Ng all also improved on medal positions last year to be victorious this time around.
 
Jonathan May was the only fencer to buck the trend, defeating England team-mate and defending champion, Ben White, in a keenly contested epee final.
 
May said: "This is my first year of serious competition so I am really pleased. It's a great experience and I only wish I could have had this tournament before the European and World Championships. I am only 16 though so will hopefully back next year for another crack.”
 
The Welsh contingent were particularly prominent on the podium for the individual sabre competition, with Jennie Tillot and Jessica Davies taking silver and bronze, while Natasha Thomson and Alice Watson led the Scottish challenge with brave performances in the foil and sabre disciplines respectively.

Gymnastics
It was a great day for England with a clean sweep of all four gold medals at the Skydome Arena.

Jenny Pinches won the individual all-around girls title at her first UK School Games. The 13-year-old from Whaley Bridge performed superbly all afternoon and finished nearly three points clear of her England compatriot Grace Imeson, with Wales’ Lizzie Beddoe taking the bronze medal.

Pinches said: “It’s just amazing being here at the UK School Games the atmospheres is fab. The team’s been so good at supporting each other and then winning is just so great on top of everything else.”

It was a one-two-three for England in the boy’s all-around event for the second year running with 16-year-old Richard Mochrie taking the gold medal, Anton Husdon the silver and Matthew Firth the bronze.

The team competition was also a repeat of last year with England winning both the boys and girls competition.

Judo
Derby's Luke Taylor impressed in winning the gold medal in the boys under 90kg category on Saturday morning in front of such a lively and vocal crowd at the Alan Higgs Centre.
 
He said "The atmosphere was brilliant here today. I was delighted to deliver a spectacular ippon seoinage which won the contest for me."
 
The closest contest of the morning session featured two Scottish competitors, with Emma Imrie eventually beating Leanne Black in the girls under 52kg final.
 
Natalie Powell of Wales won the girls under 70kgs gold medal in dramatic circumstances beating England's Georgina Davies in the final seconds of a closely-fought contest.
 
It was England’s afternoon however, with all three finals contested by players from the host nation.
 
Liam Franklyn edged an evenly-matched contest against Ben Guest in the boys under 55kg final and Arran Lawson was a narrow winner over Charlie Lucas in the under 73kg category.
 
The surprise of the session came from Katie Dean, the lightest competitor in the girls plus 70kg division, beating British Junior Championships silver medallist Louise Little.
 
Swimming
Swimming sensation Louisa Farrer-Fisher stormed the UK School Games with four gold medals and a silver, topping her incredible return of four golds at last year's event.
 
The 16-year-old from Streatham, South London, was undoubtedly the star of the show in the women's event, but revealed afterwards that she was close to pulling out a month ago through injury.
 
"I'm so glad I didn't", said the member of the England South West swim team, which went on to win the overall competition. "It's been an incredible event for me."
 
"I'm gob smacked to be honest and never thought I would win five medals as I'm coming off the back of an injury. In fact a month ago I thought I wouldn't even be able to compete. This year's UK School Games are bigger than last year as it seems the whole city of Coventry has got behind the event. I'm really delighted to have done so well here as it gives me a massive confidence boost going into my next events."
 
Irish eyes were smiling after the men’s 4x100m medley relay team claimed a national junior record in the last race of the day with a time of 4:02.97 beating the existing record of 4:03.57.
 
Elsewhere, England South East swimmer William Holland-Leavens enjoyed what he described as "a brilliant day" with two gold medals in the multi-disability events to add to his silver and bronze from last year’s Games.

Table Tennis
Following a day of intense competition at the Ricoh Arena, favourites England North East eventually triumphed, defeating their fierce rivals England South East in the final.

The expected and eagerly anticipated match up between British doubles partners Paul Drinkhall and Darius Knight was critical with the Clevedon youngster prevailing 11 - 9 in the decider of their epic five setter.

The North East eventually won 4 - 2 to defend the team title they claimed in Glasgow in 2006.
 
In the girls competition, England South East eased to a comfortable victory over England South West - Sara Wang was inspirational as they claimed all the singles matches and triumphed 4 - 1.
 
Disability competition also made its entrance in the table tennis event for the first time, with John Blackband, England Team Manager, declaring "the inclusion of disability players into the main competition was my highlight for the day."
 
"It's absolutely brilliant to give these guys that kind of exposure and they dealt with it expertly. We've had some cracking matches today and it's been a great competition," he continued.
 
Jack Pegram stole a march on his rivals in the wheelchair competition, with high hopes for a gold medal tomorrow, whilst Andrew Harper from the North West is currently leading the way in the disability standing group.

Volleyball
After two days of exciting volleyball competition at the Alan Higgs Centre, England Midlands boys look like the team to beat as they attempt to capture the UK School Games team title.
 
Winning all of their matches so far, including a victory over the highly-fancied England South, the team look set to make it through to tomorrow's final.
 
In the girls competition, things are a lot closer with three teams looking likely to be in the mix for the title.
 
Scotland West/North, England North and England South have all put in impressive performances and are ready to battle it out for the title tomorrow.
 
Both finals are scheduled for 4pm.