Chart makes first Junior podium in Guatemala City 

British Cadet and Junior fencers were in action this weekend in France, Guatemala and Poland.

Junior Women’s Foil – Guatemala City

Yvonne Chart was Great Britain’s sole representative in a field of thirty-seven at this event.  Winning three of her five first round matches saw her ranked fifteenth for the round of 32.  She cruised past Saucedo (GUA) 15-2 meaning that she had to take on the number two seed, Bildeau (CAN) to progress.  Another comfortable victory, 15-9 saw her reach the quarterfinal where she faced another Canadian in the form of Loh.  A tighter fight followed but Chart progressed 15-13.  In the semi-final she faced her third Canadian of the day, Sarah Filby and just missed out on fighting for gold, losing 15-14.  Filby went on to take the title beating Gabriella Cecchini (BRA) 15-10 in the final.  Chart shared the bronze medals with Mariana Pistoia (BRA).

Full individual results here.

Junior Men’s Foil – Lezno

Twelve British fencers lined up in a field of one hundred and sixty in Poland.  In the first round Ben Bates (V3D3), Jai Birch (V5D1), Stephen Brown (V4D2), Sam Finch (V3D3), Daniel Kiss (V4D2), Alex Lloyd (V4D2), Kamal Minott (V2D4) and Rajan Rai (V2D4) did enough to progress but Ciaran Archer (V1D5), Harry Bird (V2D4), Dominic De Almeida (V2D4) and Ethan Risdale (V1D5) did not make the cut.  In the round of 128 Bates beat Brown 15-14, Birch defeated Konieczny (POL) 15-8, Lloyd took out Krukowski (POL) 15-4 and Minott beat Gombos (GER) 15-14 but Finch, Kiss and Rai lost 15-12 to Sebban (FRA), 15-9 to Di Tommaso (ITA) and 15-11 to Sido (FRA), respectively.  In the round of 64 Birch beat Loisel (FRA) 15-10 and Lloyd defeated Barkirov (RUS) 15-10 but Bates lost 15-8 to Tourette (USA) and Minott fell 15-9 to Kongstad (DEN).  Neither of the two remaining British fencers were able to progress through the round of 32 as Mateev (RUS) narrowly edged Birch, 15-14 and Keifer (USA) beat Lloyd 15-8.  Maximillien Chastenet (FRA) beat his teammate Alexandre Ediri 15-11 to take the title with the bronze medals going to Raymond Chen (USA) and Nikita Sokolov (RUS).

In the team event, Birch, Kiss, Lloyd and Rai lined up for Great Britain in a field of fourteen.  They beat Hungary 45-40 in the round of sixteen before losing 45-37 to Poland.  In the placings matches they just lost 44-43 to Russia and 45-44 to Ukraine to finish eighth.  Denmark beat France 45-40 to take the gold medal and Poland took the bronze medal beating Latvia 45-29.

GB individual placings:  Birch 23^rd, Lloyd 27^th, Bates 63^rd, Minott 64^th, Brown 68^th, Kiss 79^th, Finch 87^th, Rai 102^nd, Bird 114^th, De Almeida 118^th, Risdale 149^th and Archer 152^nd.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Cadet Men’s Epee – Challons

Connor Head was Great Britain’s sole representative at this epee event in France.  In the first poule he won four out of six fights and in the second he won two from five, leaving him ranked thirty-seventh for the knockout stages.  He progressed through the round of 128 with a bye and then beat Sanchez (FRA) 15-4 to make the round of 32 where repechage started.  He squeezed past Lutin (SUI) 10-9 before losing 15-4 to Bonferroni (SUI).  In the repechage he faced Gerard (FRA) and went out 15-10.  Arthur Philippe (FRA) won the tournament beating Habib Abdou (FRA) 15-13 in the final.  The bronze medals were awarded to Samuel Jabault (FRA) and Randy Postma (NED).

GB placing:  Head 22^nd.

Full results can be found here.

This weekend coming, British fencers will be involved in the Cadet men’s foil event in Florina, Greece, the Cadet women’s foil event in Samorin, Slovakia, the Cadet men’s and women’s sabre event in Meylan, France, the Junior women’s epee event in Laupheim, Germany and the Junior men’s epee event in Turku, Finland.