Isabella Gill claims Modling Bronze as Edwards takes Silver in Sofia

James Edwards won the individual silver medal at the EFC cadet men’s sabre event in Sofia at the weekend as Isabella Gill picked up the bronze medal at the corresponding women’s foil event in Modling.

Cadet Men’s & Women’s Sabre – Sofia

James Edwards achieved the best result of the seven British fencers involved in this event in Bulgaria.  One hundred and twenty-nine fencers lined up for the competition and Edwards claimed five first round victories from six fights.  That earned him a bye through the round of 128.  He went on to beat Kilic (TUR) 15-7, Efimov (BUL) 15-9, Fragozidis (GRE) 15-7 and Armagan (TUR) 15-10 to guarantee himself a medal.  Clearly spurred on he took Yalin Sahin (TUR) apart winning his semi-final, 15-5.  In the final he faced Matei Aniculoesei and the Romanian was just too strong, taking the title 15-10.  Andrei Pastin (ROU) was the other bronze medallist.

Joe Pocknell also impressed by making the top sixteen but then lost 15-7 to Friedheim (SUI).  Barnaby Halliwell and Thomas Woodland made the 32, Oliver Edwardes made the 64 whilst Harry Parr and Alex McDougall were eliminated in the round of 128.

In the team event, GBR B (Edwardes, McDougall, Parr & Schaafsma) was eliminated in the round of 16 but GBR A (Edwards, Halliwell, Pocknell & Woodland) had two shots at a medal by making the semi-finals.  Ukraine 3 just edged a tight fight 45-43 to make the gold medal match but GBR A rallied and took the bronze medal by beating Romania 4 by the same score.

In the women’s event, Lizzie Moffat was Britain’s sole representative and she finished seventeenth following a 15-11 defeat to Unlundag (TUR).  Yoana Ilieva (BUL) took the title, beatin Sabina Martis (ROU) in the final as Aylin Cakir (TUR) and Daria Gontsova (UKR) claimed the bronze medals.

Full men’s individual results here.

Full women’s individual results here.

Cadet Men’s and Women’s Foil – Modling

There was more British success in Austria at the weekend as Isabella Gill claimed the bronze medal in Modling in a huge field of one hundred and ninety-seven fencers.  She won five of her six first round matches which earned her a bye through the incomplete round of 256.  She followed that with a 15-6 victory over Parra (FRA), a win against Schmitz (GER), a 15-8 defeat of Solodkiha (LAT), a 15-12 victory over Borisenko (RUS) and then a 15-12 win against Fourniguet (FRA) to guarantee a medal.  In the semi-final she took on Hungarian, Anna Poltz but lost out 15-12.  Poltz had to settle for the silver medal losing the final to Martina Favaretto (ITA).  Yukino Tosa (JPN) shared the bronze medal position with Gill.

Seville Babaeva made the 32, Amy Home the 64, whilst Madeleine Brown, Arianna Balestrieri, Mirren Black, Bronwen Granville, Heloise Hardie, Mhairi McLaunghlin, Phoebe Newton-Hughes and Teagan Williams- Stewart were all eliminated in the round of 128.  Emily Beardmore, Becci Curwen and Amanda Mond were cut after the poule stage.

There were thirty-one entries in the women’s team event including three from Great Britain.  GBR 1 (Hardie, Home, McLaughlin) face a surprise package in the shape of Japan 1 in the round of 32 and lost 45-20. GBR 3 (Balestrieri, Beardmore, Curwen, Mond) made the round of 16 by beating Czech Republic 2 but then lost to the same Japanese team 45-19.  GBR 2 (Babaeva, Granville, Williams-Stewart) made the quarterfinals where they lost 45-29 to Ukraine 1.  Japan 1 went on to win the tournament (from a seeding of 22) beating Romania 44-43 in the gold medal match.  Ukraine 1 beat Belarus 1 45-35 to take the bronze medal.

Britain had a tough day in the men’s individual event which included two hundred and seventy-eight fencers.  The sixty-eight cut after the poule stage included Edmund Howlett and Samuel Wilson.  Douglas Ashby, Ben Attias, Jacob Forey-Miller, Alessandro Gill, Isaac Jolley and Luca Plastow did not make it through the 256 elimination round.  The remaining Brits – Matthew Abrahams, Maximillian Deering, Anton Fenyk, Brij Gautam, James Rutherford, Benjamin Stezaker and Dan Summerfield – were all knocked out in the round of 128.  Andrew Machovec (USA) took the title, beating Alessandro Stella (ITA) in the final as Noe Madingou Robin (FRA) and Ivan Troshin (RUS) finished in the bronze medal position.

There were forty entries into the men’s team event including three from Great Britain.  In the incomplete round of 64, GBR 1 (Howlett, Jolley, Stezaker) beat Slovakia 45-34 before losing 45-41 to Romania in the 32.  GBR 3 (Attias, Forey-Miller, Rutherford, Wilson) also made the round of 32 but lost 45-14 to Germany 2.  GBR 2 (Abrahams, Deering, Gautam, Plastow) had a bye through the 64 before going on to beat Netherlands 2. They lost to Russia 3 in the round of 16.  Russia 1 beat Poland 1 for the gold medal as Japan 1 beat Germany in the bronze medal play-off.

Full men’s individual results here.

Full women’s individual results here.

Full men’s team results here.

Full women’s team results here.

Senior Women’s Foil – St Maur World Cup

Yvonne Chart, Chloe Dickson and Philippa Mullins lined up in a field of one hundred and forty-nine in France at the weekend.  Only Chart made it through the first round winning three of her six fights.  She went on to face Laffey (USA) in the first preliminary knockout and lost 15-4 to end British interest in the tournament.

Inna Deriglazova (RUS) won the event by beating Nicole Ross (USA) in the final.  Arianna Errigo (ITA) and Anastasia Ivanova (RUS) were the bronze medallists.

There was no British team in the field of fourteen on Sunday as Italy took the title by beating Russia in the final.  The USA beat Korea to third place.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Senior Men’s Sabre – Dakar World Cup

A relatively small field of ninety-five entries included seven British fencers for the first men’s sabre World Cup of the season in Senegal.  Nicholas Howes did not make the first round cut but the others –  Soji Aiyenuro, Harry Boteler, William Deary, Curtis Miller, Kirk Slankard and Jonathan Webb – did.  In fact, Deary won five of his six matches and Webb who won four of his six matches did well enough to go straight through to the round of 64.  They were joined there by Aiyenuro who beat Ballo (MLI) 15-7 and Miller who beat Burnev (BUL) 15-13.  Boteler and Slankard were both beating in the preliminary knockout by Miyamam (JPN) 15-7 and Georgiev (BUL) 15-14, respectively.

None of the remaining Brits were able to make it any further as Huebers (GER) beat Aiyenuro 15-7, Bonah (GER) defeated Deary 15-10, Miller lost 15-8 to Curatoli (ITA) and Laurence (FRA) saw off Webb 15-11.  Vincent Anstett (FRA) took the title beating Enrico Berre in the final as Luca Curatoli and Daryl Homer (USA) picked up the bronze medals.

In the team event, Great Britain face Algeria in the round of sixteen, beating them 45-32.  Hungary were too strong for them in the quarterfinals and beat them 45-29.  In the play-off matches they beat Germany 45-44 before losing 45-31 to France to finish sixth.  Iran won the event by beating Italy in the gold medal match as Korea beat Hungary to the bronze medal.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.