A final final wasn’t to be but the closing team event still brought GBR some bling.
Great Britain secured their sixth wheelchair fencing medal of the Paralympic Games on the closing day of competition, when the epee team of Dimitri Coutya, Piers Gilliver and Ollie Lam-Watson won the bronze medal match against Poland, 45-27. The same team took bronze in the same event in Tokyo four years previously.
It capped a triumphant set of performances for the squad, who added a sixth medal to the previous tally from Tokyo to finish with two golds, three silvers and a bronze, podiuming on every day of the competition and cementing Britain’s position as a major wheelchair fencing nation.
After a relatively straightforward quarterfinal match against France, who they beat handily 45-20, an exceptionally tricky semi against Iraq proved their undoing, with their Cat A epeeist Zainulabdeen Al-Madhkhoori scoring powerfully and fast against Lam-Watson and Coutya. Despite Piers (the team’s epee specialist) having a strong match and winning every one of his bouts, Iraq opened up a lead in the sixth bout and never let it go. Iraq would face China in the final, and eventually win the silver medal.
But GBR had one more shot, and in the end, the bronze medal match really wasn’t close. Poland did not have much in their bag of tricks to counter the well-honed GBR moves and bladework. Dimitri performed exceptionally well against the Polish Cat A fencers, although their top Cat B fencer Michal Dabrowski, who Dimitri had already faced in the individual epee competition, proved a little more difficult. But exceptional bouts from Ollie and Piers pushed Great Britain ahead and sealed the deal fairly early on.
Oliver Lam-Watson said: “Sometimes we get focused on the only thing is gold. We aim for that, and when you don’t achieve it it’s really really tough.”
“To lose that fight (the semifinal against Iraq) and then turn it around for the bronze medal fight psychologically is really difficult sometimes.”
“I’m really proud of these guys, and myself as well. We were all able to go out there and give it everything. In the last match of the Games for us that’s all we can ask for.”
GBR were second on the wheelchair fencing medal table behind China by total medals, and third on gold count behind China and Thailand, the latter thanks to the extraordinary performance of Saysunee Jana in the individual competitions. They were also very much part of a wide and strong performance for ParalympicsGB, who significantly improved on their totals from the Tokyo competition.
“I think it’s really nice thing to be a part of the bigger Paralympic GB team, because I think for us, you know, we always think about the next competition, the next World Cup, and you kind of end up in a quite small bubble, just within the sort of fencing bubble.” said Piers. “It’s not until you come to the Games, you see the medal tally on the wall, you realise actually what you do has a bigger impact. And I think to feel that you are part of something bigger really is fantastic.”
Dimitri, with an amazing medal haul from the five days of two golds, silver and bronze, had the final word: “I always find the (Paralympic Games) so incredible. This has been a three-year cycle, but generally four years of your life has just been put into five days of competition. Horribly gruelling, but I’m really proud of the work that my team and these boys in particular have put in.” he said.
“It’s really tough to come away with a Paralympic medal, and to have such consistent performers on a team over so many years is really a feat that we should all be proud of.”
Pics via World Abilitysport
The full competition schedule and results is available here: Wheelchair Fencing Schedule
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