Nichols makes Junior Epee Quarterfinal
The 2015 Junior World Championships began on 5th April with three days of individual events followed by two days of team events.
Day One
Men’s Epee
The men’s epee tournament was the first of the Junior individual events as Tomas Curran-Jones, Harrison Nichols and Aml Sinclair represented Great Britain in a field of one hundred and forty-nine. Curran-Jones (V2D3), Nichols (V5D1) and Sinclair (V3D3) all progressed through the first round with Nichols earning a bye through the incomplete round of 128. He was joined in the round of 64 by Curran-Jones who beat Zhu (CHN) 15-12 but Sinclair fell 15-9 to Islas Flygare (SWE). Both British fencers won their next fights as Curran-Jones overcame Nakamura (JPN) 15-13 and Nichols took out Limardo (VEN) by the same score. Only Nichols could progress any further, beating Nurmatov (UZB) 15-13 as Vismara (ITA) knocked out Curran-Jones 15-8. Nichols then put in a dominant performance against the world number five, Sych (UKR), beating him 15-9. The world number three, Yulen Pereira (SPN) was too much for Nichols in the quarterfinal and the Spanish fencer went on to the semi-finals with a 15-5 victory.
World number forty, Hippolyte Bouillot (FRA) became the first Junior World Champion of 2015 beating Zsombor Banyai (HUN) in a thrilling final. At 13-13 in the third period the referee called for a non-combativity priority minute with the Hungarian being awarded priority. The French fencer quickly took the fight to Banyai and stormed to a 15-13 victory and the World title. Yulen Pereira (VEN) and Yangdong Zue (CHN) took the bronze medals.
GB placing: Nichols 8th, Curran-Jones 31st and Sinclair 76th.
Women’s Foil
A field of eighty-eight took part in this event. Yvonne Chart, Ayesha Fihosy and Jade Rowland were representing Great Britain. Chart (V2D3), Fihosy (V3D3) and Rowland (V2D4) all made the first round cut with Chart and Fihosy earning byes through the incomplete round of 128. Rowland joined them in the 64, beating Poon (HKG) 15-11. Only Chart was able to make the round of 32, beating Gong (CHN) 15-14 as Moreno Valiente (CUB) defeated Fihosy 15-10 and Bianchin (ITA) beat Rowland 15-5. Chart’s day ended in the round of 32 as Fu (CHN) beat her 14-11 in a tight fight.
Sara Taffel (USA) became the World Champion beating last year’s silver medalist, Eleanor Harvey (CAN). Taffel came from behind in the final period and went on to take the title 15-12. Leonie Ebert (GER), the Cadet World Champion and Yiting Fu (CHN) went home with the bronze medals.
GB placings: Chart 31st, Fihosy 44th & Rowland 60th.
Day Two
Men’s Foil
Jai Birch, Alex Lloyd and Rajan Rai formed part of the one hundred and eleven-strong field in this event. Birch (V2D3), Lloyd (V2D3) and Rai (V4D2) all progressed through the first round with Rai earning a bye through the incomplete round of 128. Birch joined him in the round of 64 beating Yousef (KUW) 15-9 but Teteris (LAT) knocked out Lloyd 15-12. Neither remaining British fencer could progress any further as Nemeth (HUN) beat Birch 15-7 and Marques (BRA) defeated Rai 15-12.
Two Italians fought off for the gold medal and it was Damiano Rosatelli who got the better of his teammate, Francesco Ingargiola in an extremely tight match, winning 15-13. Mengkai Huang (CHN) and Hyeonjun Yang (KOR) were the bronze medalists.
GB placings: Rai 45th, Birch 58th & Lloyd 76th.
Women’s Sabre
Seventy-eight fencers started this event where Maria Chart, Kate Daykin and Caitlin Maxwell represented Great Britain. Chart (V2D3) and Maxwell (V2D4) progressed through the first round but Daykin (V0D5) did not make the cut. Only Maxwell was able to make the round of 32, beating Kelecsenyi (HUN) 15-14 but Chart fell 15-3 to Infante (MEX) in the 64. Maxwell was unable to progress any further as Choi (KOR) beat her 15-4.
Manon Brunet and Caroline Queroli of France fenced for the gold medal in an unsurprisingly tight match. Despite Brunet pulling back to 14-all from 14-12 down, Queroli was able to take the title 15-14 at the death. Anna Bashta (RUS) and Sage Palmedo (USA) secured the bronze medals.
GB placings: Maxwell 32nd, Chart 51st & Daykin 70th.
Day Three
Women’s Epee
One hundred and eleven fencers took part in the penultimate junior individual event of these championships. Medora McCarthy (V4D2) and Elisabeth Powell (V1D4) made the first round cut but Lydia Stanier (V0D5) did not. McCarthy progressed through the round of 128 with a bye but Powell fell 15-11 to last year’s silver medalist, Bohus (HUN). McCarthy went on to face Swiss fencer, Buech in the round of 64 but lost 15-10.
Coraline Vitalis (FRA) became the World Champion in stunning style beating Nadine Stahlberg (GER) 15-6 in the first period. Having fenced superbly all day the German was given no time to settle into the fight as Vitalis stormed to victory. Xue Qin (CHN) and Yulya Svystil (UKR) took home the bronze medals.
GB placings: McCarthy 42nd, Powell 89th & Stanier 105th.
Men’s Sabre
Ninety-six fencers took part in this event including three from Great Britain. Raphael Van Hoffelen (V3D3) and Jonathan Webb (V5D1) did enough in the first round to qualify for the knockout stages and also earned byes through the incomplete 128. William Deary only managed one victory from six first round matches so did not make the cut. Both Van Hoffelen and Webb had tight matches in the round of 64 but both progressed, 15-13 against Tsang (HKG) and 15-12 versus Yildirim (TUR), respectively. Gert (GER) knocked Van Hoffelen out, 15-10, in the round of 32 and despite a brave comeback from 14-10 down to 14-all, Webb fell 15-14 to Bancsics (HUN).
Eli Dershwitz (USA) pulled out an 8-3 lead in the first period of his men’s sabre gold medal match with Francesco Bonsanto (ITA). His tactical dominance continued in the second period and he took the final individual World title with a 15-8 victory. Mohamed Amer (EGY) and Jules De Visscher (BEL) secured the bronze medals.
GB placings: Webb 22nd, Van Hoffelen 31st & Deary 86th.
Day Four
Women’s Foil Team
Twenty-two teams took part in this event including one from Great Britain – Yvonne Chart, Ayesha Fihosy and Jade Rowland. They beat Australia 45-20 in the round of 32 but then lost 39-22 to Russia. In the placings matches Great Britain beat Egypt 45-33 and Spain 45-29, before losing 38-31 to China, thus finishing 10th.
Russia went on to fence for the bronze medal against Poland who took control of the match early on. Poland went on to win 45-41. The gold medal match between the USA and Italy saw the Italians break away early. By the ninth and final leg they led 36-32 with Erica Cipressa on for Italy and Sabrina Massialas, on for the USA. Massialas put in an aggressive display to draw level at the end of regulation time. A final minute of fencing followed with Cipressa holding priority. After a close decision that was given to neither fencer, Cipressa came out on the attack and scored the winning hit to take the Italians to the World title.
Men’s Team Epee
Thirty-five teams took part in this event and after a re-draw of the tableau Great Britain (Tomas Curran-Jones, Harrison Nichols and Aml Sinclair) were unlucky to draw Korea. They lost 45-33 to finish 18th.
In the bronze medal match Hungary faced Spain and despite a good start from Spain, the Hungarians took the lead after six legs and held on to win 45-36. The gold medal match between France and Germany was close after three legs with the Germans leading 15-12. The Spaniards outscored their opponents 16-15 in the following three legs but still trailed 30-28 after six bouts. The German team steadied themselves and went on to win the World title, 45-36.
Women’s Team Sabre
There were twenty-one teams in this event with Great Britain fielding a team comprised of Maria Chart, Kate Daykin and Caitlin Maxwell. They beat Australia comfortably (45-32) in the round of 32 but then lost 45-25 to Russia. In the placings matches they lost 45-25 to Japan and 45-31 to Poland before beating Egypt 45-44 to finish fifteenth.
In the bronze medal match France led Hungary 15-9 after three fights and 30-26 after six but Hungary fought back to lead 40-38 going into the last leg. They held on to take bronze with a 45-42 victory. In the gold medal match Russia led Italy 30-27 after six fights but a strong performance by the Italians saw them take the World title 45-41 with a beautiful display of composed and tactically astute fencing.
Day Five
Men’s Team Foil
Jai Birch, Alex Lloyd and Rajan Rai represented Great Britain in a field of twenty-eight men’s foil teams and beat Canada 45-36 in the round of 32 before losing 45-41 to France in the 16. A 45-42 victory over Brazil followed by a 45-39 defeat to Hong Kong saw them face Egypt for eleventh place. Egypt was unable to contend with one of their fencers falling ill so Great Britain finished eleventh.
The USA led France 15-13 in the bronze medal match after three fights but France took the lead (30-24) after six matches. The USA team only scored four hits in the remaining bouts so France took the bronze medal with a 45-28 victory. Italy faced China for gold and put in an outstanding display, leading 15-9 after three bouts and 30-18 after six. China outscored Italy in the following two bouts but Ingargiola came on in the anchor leg for Italy and took them to a 45-31 win.
Women’s Team Epee
Twenty-nine teams in this event included one from Great Britain – Elisabeth Powell, Medora McCarthy and Lydia Stanier. They lost 45-39 in the round of 32 to finish twenty-first.
In the bronze medal match the USA led Germany 14-13 after three legs. The Germans edged ahead 20-16 after three more fights which included two that were ended for non-combativity. With the USA chasing, the Germans were able to control the fight and went on to win the bronze medal, 44-29. Russia pulled out a 13-9 lead after three legs of their gold medal match against Italy but the Italians went 21-19 up after six fights. Russia had to chase the match and an incredible thirty-five hits were scored in the ninth leg with the Italians taking the title 45-35.
Men’s Team Sabre
Twenty-five teams competed in this event with Great Britain represented by William Deary, Raphael Van Hoffelen and Jonathan Webb. They beat Uzbekistan 45-27 in the round of 32 but then lost 45-40 to Kuwait. A 45-39 defeat to Italy in the placings matches was followed by a 45-43 victories over Mexico and then Spain which meant that Great Britain finished thirteenth.
Despite leading 15-12 and 30-26 in the bronze medal match, Poland lost the lead to the USA in the eighth leg. Eli Dershwitz saw the match out for the USA, winning 45-41. Korea faced Russia for gold in the final match of the event. The Koreans led 15-14 after three legs and 30-24 after six. The Russians brought on their substitute Kirill Efimov for the seventh leg and he went on an 11-4 run against Hanshin Cho to put them in ahead. Jonghyun Lee reestablished the lead for Korea (40-36) going into the anchor leg to set up an exciting finish. A stunning effort from Dmitiry Danilenko saw the Russians draw level at 43-43 but Soohwan Kim took the Koreans to the gold medal 45-43 in a fitting finale to these Championships.
During the closing ceremony, Secretary General of the FIE, Frederic Pietruszka thanked the fantastic organizing committee and the Uzbek Fencing Federation. The FIE flag was then passed on to the General Secretary of the French Fencing, Catherine Defoligny-Renault, as Borges will host the 2016 Cadet & Junior World Championships.
Link to full results for each event can be found here.
Video coverage from the round of 32 in all of the individual events and the round of 8 in all of the team events can be found here.
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