Papadopoulos marks his 18th with a bronze
Dunblane teenager Alex Papadopoulos celebrated his 18th birthday in style after landing team bronze with the Scottish men’s epee squad in the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in Canberra.
Edinburgh University student Alex was 18 on November 26 but on the day, he was taking part in the individual epee at the prestigious tournament.
The former Dunblane High School pupil finished in a creditable 20th place in his first individual senior epee event before going on to take the bronze behind winners England and runners-up Australia.
Alex is in his first year at university studying astrophysics and started the sport at Dunblane Fencing Club with his 15-year-old sister Keira – who has also represented Scotland at age group level – under the watchful eye of Charity McArdle, former Scottish Commonwealth Games fencer in the foil discipline in the 1990s.
He has been fencing for the university since he began this term but is now taking a break from the sport to concentrate on his studies.Alex will re-focus on training in the New Year and will set his sights on the next major tournament but also hopes to be selected in four years time to represent Scotland again at the next Commonwealth Games.