Award for fencing club which aims to empower women

The group received an award for Outstanding Community Project

A women's fencing group set up to break down barriers to participation, particularly among Muslims, has been presented with an award.

Binni's Bladez, set up eight years ago in Ladywood, Birmingham, also featured in the national This Girl Can campaign. Women have told how it has given them confidence and independence and helped them make friends.

Group member Lamia Abti said she enjoyed the fencing, and also the "community feel of being around everybody".

Their latest project is to try out a piece of kit called the sword seat, which has been designed to enable wheelchair users to get involved.

Those taking part have said the fencing is fun and they have made friends

Sport England have compiled data which found South Asian Muslim women reported some of the highest levels of exclusion and one-in-two had felt excluded in sport.

Rafaela Marinkovic, who takes part in sessions, said the group had given her "people who I can talk to who can support me, even if I don't have anyone else at the moment".

Two other members, Taz and Hirah Haz said fencing sessions were "just full of laughter and fun".

They said it made them keep going back because it was fun and there was a "welcoming and encouraging" community.

Virginia Bailey said the aim was to have a level playing field

Robina Begum, who runs Binni's Bladez, said: "We've become a family," she said. "It's so beautiful. There's no political agenda here. There's no religious agenda here.

"You're just here to fence and to be safe and to be united as one, and this is what Binni's Bladez is all about."

After the group received an Outstanding Community Project award from the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Ms Begum said she was "thrilled".

The sword seat was designed to encourage wheelchair-users to take up the sport

Their new piece of kit comprises six pieces of plywood that are assembled to provide a low-cost alternative to an adapted wheelchair.

Virginia Bailey, from British Fencing, said: "We want fencers, whether you're a wheelchair user or a non-wheelchair user, to go into a club on a level playing field."

She said the sword seat helped this to happen because clubs could provide the kit for any wheelchair-users who wanted to participate.

Britain has excelled in wheelchair fencing after Dimitri Coutya and Piers Gilliver claimed Epee gold at the European Wheelchair Fencing Championships in Paris last year.