Gold, Silver and Bronze for the Hungarians

The 2014 Cadet and Junior World Championships continued on Thursday, 4^th April, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with the preliminary stages of the Cadet Women’s and Men’s Epee events.  With each event split over two days, thirty-two fencers in each event progressed through to the round of 32 which took place on the following day.

Cadet Women’s Epee

With a total of 113 entries, Medora McCarthy (V5D1), Lydia Stanier (V3D3) and Alix Turley (V2D4) all progressed through the first round.  McCarthy, ranked sixth earned herself a bye through the round of 128 but Botvnik (ISR) defeated Stanier 15-14 and So (KOR) beat Turley 15-8.  McCarthy was unable to progress any further as she was beaten 15-13 by Verret (CAN) in the round of 64.

In the first semi-final Elenora De Marchi (ITA) beat Asa Linde (SWE) 15-7 keeping a close distance throughout the fight and relying on her lightening-fast reactions.  Despite falling 7-4 behind in the final period Catherine Nixon (USA) beat Kinga Nagy (HUN) 12-9 in the second semi-final.

In the gold medal match De Marchi worked on the close distance approach that had served her well all day.  It was however Nagy who led 4-3 at the first break.  In the second period Nagy opened the lead to 5-3 before De Marchi upped the pace of the fight.  Three unanswered hits in a row saw her take a 7-5 lead into the second break.  Determined not to be pushed to her back line in the third period, Nagy began to hold her ground but De Marchi immediately adapted to this change.  Her patience, discipline, concentration and great skill meant that she led 14-11 but as the clock ticked down Nagy scored once in close-quarters and then with a fast attack.  At 14-13 down and little time left on the clock Nagy had no choice but to attack.  The resulting double meant that De Marchi became the 2014 Cadet Women’s Epee Champion.

GB placings: McCarthy 34^th, Stanier 72^nd & Turley 83^rd.

Full results here.

Cadet Men’s Epee

Three British men were entered into this tournament joining a field of 139.  They all made the first round cut – Charles Dean (V3D3), Owen Jordan (V3D3) and Sinclair (V5D1).  Sinclair had a bye through to the round of 64 as Dean fell 15-12 to Ogilvie (NZL) and Cipar (SVK) defeated Jordan 15-6 in the round of 128.  Sinclair’s tournament was ended by Bartissol (POR) 15-11 in the round of 64.

The first semi-final saw Justin Yoo (USA) beat Dylan French (CAN) 15-12 but that required a significant change to his game plan after the first period ended in a 3-3 stalemate.  The second semi-final was a one-sided affair between two Hungarians with Patrik Esztergalyos beating Gergely Toth 15-10.

The final turned out to be one of the most exciting Cadet Men’s Epee finals seen in the last few years.  The number one seed, Yoo, stormed into a commanding 5-0 lead at the first break, tricking his opponent into attacking him and then working from that.  Half way through the second period, the American still held a 5-hit lead at 8-3 but that’s when things changed.  All of a sudden, Esztergalyos not only decided to stop falling into that trap but started to set up Yoo.  In the third period he drew level at 10-10 and then took the lead for the first time in the match.  That sparked Yoo back into life and he fought his way back into the lead (13-11) by forcing through a couple of strong attacks.  Back came the Hungarian but a double took the fight to 14-13 in favour of the American with seconds left on the clock.  Yoo’s decision to go for an attack was a mistake as he missed and Esztergalyos was able to draw level, taking the fight into a priority minute.  A failed parry riposte from Yoo meant that Esztergalyos became the 2014 Cadet Men’s Epee World Champion with a continuation.

GB placings: Sinclair 36^th, Jordan 86^th and Dean 96^th.

Full results here.

The final two Cadet event take place tomorrow with individual events concluding in Men’s Foil and Women’s Sabre.