GRAHAM Paul, 70, of Upton, near Banbury, won silver and bronze medals in the European veterans’ championships in Chiavari, Italy.

A new entrant in the 70+ age category, Paul (pictured) won all his fights in the men’s foil first round to emerge as No 3 seed in the 16-strong event.

Comfortable wins over Laszlo Vadasz of Hungary 10-5, England teammate Brian Causton 10-1 and France’s Socrate Abdoukadyrov 10-2 took him to the final.

But there he met the difficult Italian Fabrizio Filippi, losing 10-4, and had to be content with the silver medal.

In the 39-strong men’s epee event, Paul was fifth seed and began the knock-out stages by beating two Finns, Ilkka Seppanen 10-6 and Seppo Lauhio 10-3, to reach the quarter-finals.

There beat the Italian Salvatore Pezone 10-5, before losing 10-9 in a tough semi-final against the top seed Frigyes Lasetzky, of Hungary.