Hackney secured gold medals in female handball at the London Youth Games after beating Kingston 3-1 in the final at the Copper Box Arena.

The borough can celebrate having the best team in London after producing exciting, powerful play throughout the competition to prove deserving winners.

Hackney, who came third at handball in 2014, embraced the venue that was used for the 2012 Olympic Games, getting off to a great start.

Two big wins in the group stage, including a 6-0 victory over Bexley, meant that Hackney topped their group unbeaten – scoring 14 goals without conceding.

In the knockout stages, Hackney continued their dominance with big 7-2 and 6-1 wins over Waltham Forest and Newham respectively before seeing off the challenge of Haringey 3-0 in their semi-final.

In the final, they were up against a determined Kingston outfit that they had already defeated 1-0 in the group stage and Hackney had too much in reserve, securing the title with a 3-1 victory.

Hackney team manager Nana Badu was delighted to see his team come away with a gold medal, and praised the event for encouraging greater participation in competitive sport among young Londoners.

“It was hard work but well deserved,” said Badu. “It’s brilliant, the London Youth Games allows the kids to kind of get involved in different sports that they’ve never tried before and end up with gold.

“Our sessions are done with lots of music so it’s not just a handball club, it’s a sports club where you can play and have fun and then eventually it got serious and we realised, we’re actually quite good.”

A record 126,897 young Londoners took part in the record-breaking 2014 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games, taking the event to over 1 million participants since it first launched in 1977.