STARS of Redbridge's team in this years' London Youth Games were honoured at a full council meeting this evening.

The borough came second overall in the tournament - missing out on first place by a slender 17 points - and our elected representatives were falling over themselves to lavish praise on the competitors.

Cabinet member for leisure Cllr Alan Weinberg said: "There were 700 young people from Redbridge taking part in this year's youth games and that's something that we should be very proud of.

"I had a meeting with the chairman of the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace and he told me that he would be using Redbridge as the role model for the work that the sport development team do around the capital promoting sport."

Representatives from the winning teams collected trophies in the council chamber from Redbridge Mayor Cllr Thomas Chan.

Cllr Bob Littlewood said: "With only 17 points in it it was such an exciting finish.

"I think clearly the young people deserve our congratulations and all the coaches and the parents who show so much support.

"There were thousands of young people who took part who will remember this over the years.

"Bear in mind that many of these people are volunteers and they all do over and above what might be expected of them."

Leader of the Labour group Cllr Elaine Norman added: "Really just to echo what [Cllr Littlewood] said. It was a very exciting afternoon and it was great to see the commitment of these young people during the games."

The Redbridge team took part in 45 of the 49 events with over 700 young people from across the Borough participating. Overall, the team won five gold medals, five silver, three bronze and finished within the top ten in 29 of the sports entered.

The result comes as the build up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games gathers pace with Inspiration 09, Redbridge’s event for the London 2012 Open Weekend taking place on 26 July.

The London Youth Games is the largest sporting event of its kind in Europe for young people.

Over 21,000 participants from all 33 London Boroughs compete against each other in 49 different sporting events.

The preliminary rounds started in mid February with the Boys Cricket Qualifying Competition and culminated in the finals weekend on July 4 and 5 at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

For more information on the London Youth Games, please visit londonyouthgames.org