Chang shines for Hong Kong as Italy continue to display their mastery of foil

The Cadet and Junior World Championships 2013 continued in Poreč, Croatia, with the Cadet Men’s Foil and Women’s individual Sabre events.

Cadet Men’s Foil 

Three British fencers joined a field of 104 for the individual event.  In the first round Birch (V4D1) and Lloyd (V3D2) earned themselves byes through the round of 128 whilst Kiss (V2D4) qualified for the knockout stages.  In the round of 128 he met Gaganidze (GEO) who beat him 15-11.  Lloyd fell 15-10 to Dei Rossi (ITA) in the round of 64 but Birch progressed beating Calva (MEX) 15-7.  In the round of 32 Birch fought hard and found himself 14-12 up against Dosa (HUN) before experiencing cramp.  A ten-minute injury timeout was not enough for Birch to recover and Dosa progressed 15-14.

Ingargiola (ITA) dominated the first two periods of the first semi-final leading 13-8 at the second break.  A fantastic comeback from Bakirov (RUS) looked to trouble his opponent but the Italian eventually won 15-13.  The second semi-final was a corker with Ciuti (ITA) and Saito (JPN) going at each other from the start.  At the first break the score was level at 12-12 and it was no surprise that it got to 14-14 in the second period.  A close call on the last hit saw Ciuti progress to the gold medal match.  With two Italians up against each other for the World Championship title the fight started in a cagey fashion.  However Ingargiola led 10-6 at the break and dominated the second period taking the title 15-6.

GB Individual Placings:  Birch 24^th, Lloyd 43^rd & Kiss 80^th.

Full Individual Results Here

Cadet Women’s Sabre

There were three British fencers in this event joining a field of 64.  Both Daykin (V3D2) and Gladdish (V3D3) progressed to the round of 64 but Anil (V1D5) did not make the first round cut.  In the round of 64 Daykin lost 15-8 to Nozadze (Geo) and Krueger (GER) knocked out Gladdish 15-11.

In the first semi-final Chang (HKG) led Infante (MEX) 8-5 at the break and then romped away in the second period, winning 15-6.  In the second semi-final Goudoura (GRE) made it look easy in the first period, leading 8-4 over Kindler (GER).  The German produced a spectacular comeback in the second period varying her tactics but eventually fell 15-13.  In the final Chang (HKG) came from behind in the first period to lead 8-7 at the break.  An extremely close second period followed and inevitably came to a 14-14 tie.  Chang showed great composure under pressure to take the title 15-14.

GB Individual Placings:  Daykin 35^th, Gladdish 41^st & Anil 56^th.

Full Individual Results Here

The Junior competition starts tomorrow with the Men’s Sabre individual and Women’s Foil individual events.