Men’s Foil clinch team bronze and two top eight inidivdual placings

Men’s Epee Grand Prix – Vancouver

The field of 106 fencers on the west coast of Canada did not include any British entries.  Swiss fencer, Fabian Kauter went on to win the event beating world number one, Nikolai Novosjolov (EST) 11-10 in the final.  The bronze medals went to Marco Fichera (ITA) and Ivan Trevejo (FRA).

Full individual results here.

Men’s Foil World Cup – Bonn

Nine British fencers took part in this event in Germany at the weekend.  James Davis’s world ranking insured that he was automatically placed in the round of 64.  The remaining British contingent all progressed to the knockout stages – Tom Hendrie (V4D2), Jamie Fitzgerald (V4D2), Richard Kruse (V6D0), Rhys Melia (V3D3), Marcus Mepstead (V4D2), Ben Peggs (V2D4), Amol Rattan (V4D2) and Alex Tofalides (V3D3).  Kruse’s performance earned him a bye straight through to the round of 64 whilst the rest of the GB team had to contend with a two-stage preliminary knockout phase.   In the first matches Hendrie lost 15-9 to Shimbo (BRA), Samandi (TUN) beat Melia 15-11 and Braun (GER) defeated Peggs 15-7 whilst Fitzgerald knocked out Navas (BEL) 15-6, Mepstead overcame Koltygo (UKR) 7-6 in a priority minute and Rattan edged past Borst (NED) 15-14.  In the second round of preliminary matches Braun (GER) got the better of Rattan, 15-9 but Fitzgerald beat Langer (AUT) 15-11 and Mepstead defeated Szabados (HUN) 13-12.

In the round of 64 Davis and Mepstead were drawn against each other and Davis progressed with a 15-9 victory.  Simon (FRA) beat Fitzgerald 15-9 but Kruse beat Choupenitch (CZE) 15-9.  It was a good day for both Davis and Kruse.  They made the quarterfinals as Davis went on to beat H. Kim (KOR) 15-11 and Trani (ITA) 15-6 whilst Kruse beat Chida (JPN) 15-11 and then demolished the current World Champion, Chamley-Watson 15-3.  Neither was able to make the medal matches as Ma (CHN) defeated Davis 15-12 whilst Baldini (ITA) overcame Kruse by the same score.

Andrea Cassara (ITA) won the gold medal, beating Alexey Cherimisinov (RUS) 15-12 in the final.  Baldini and Ma took the bronze medals.

In the team event Great Britain was one of twenty-one entries.  They went on to beat Russia on their way to the bronze medal match where they beat Ukraine 45-36.  China won gold beating Korea 45-34 in the final.  Full match report here.

GB individual placings: Davis 6^th, Kruse 7^th, Fitzgerald 49^th, Mepstead 56^th, Rattan 78^th, Hendrie 105^th, Tofalides 123^rd, Melia 132^nd & Peggs 142^nd.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Women’s Foil World Cup – Turin

A field of 147 took to the pistes in Turin at the weekend including six from Great Britain.  There should have been seven British entries but flight difficulties made it impossible for Catriona Sibert to get to the event.  Yvonne Chart (V2D4), Chloe Dickson (V1D5) and Ayesha Fihosy (V1D5) did not make the first round cut but Catherine Cook (V3D3), Natalia Sheppard (V3D3) and Dominique Szokolovics (V2D4) did.  Sheppard earned herself a bye through the first fight of the two-stage preliminary knockout as Tagliapietra (ITA) defeated Cook 15-8 and Elesina (RUS) beat Szokolovics 15-10.  Margaret Lu (USA) overcame Sheppard 12-9 in the second preliminary fight meaning that no British fencers were involved on the second day of the event.

An intriguing final saw Inna Deriglazova (RUS) beat Elisa Di Francisca (ITA) 10-9 to take the gold medal.  Arianna Errigo (ITA) and Anastasia Ivanova (RUS) settled for the bronze medals.

Great Britain lost 45-20 to Italy in the round of 16 of the team event and then lost 40-22 to China, beat Hong Kong 45-36 and lost to Mexico 43-26 to finish fourteenth.  Italy beat Russia to the gold medal in a 45-35 final.  Korea took out Germany 42-28 in the bronze medal match.

GB individual placings: Sheppard 79^th, Cook 98^th, Szokolovics 110^th, Chart 119^th, Fihosy 127^th and Dickson 129^th. 

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Men’s Sabre World Cup – Moscow

Four British fencers were part of the 138-strong field in Moscow at the weekend.  Thomas Mottershead (V1D5) and Kirk Slankard (V1D5) did not do enough to make the first round cut but Alex Crutchett (V3D3) and James Honeybone (V5D1) progressed to the two-stage preliminary qualifiers.  Both had byes through the first fight before Crutchett performed superbly to beat Huebner (GER) 15-14 from 14-11 down and Honeybone beat Arai (JPN) 15-9 to make the second day of the event.  There, Crutchett put in an impressive display against World number four, Bongil Gu (KOR) but lost 15-11.  Honeybone stormed past B. Gemesi (HUN) 15-4.  His day ended in the round of 32 as he lost 15-12 to eventual quarterfinalist, Vincent Anstett (FRA).

Tiberiu Dolniceanu (ROU) took the gold medal, beating Jung Hwan Kim (KOR) 15-10 in the final whilst the bronze medals went to Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) and Matyas Szabo (GER).

A bye through the first round of the 18-strong team event meant that Great Britain faced Romania in the round of 16.  They lost 45-34 before beating Iran 45-41, losing 45-40 to Poland and beating Hong Kong 45-44 to finish eleventh.

Russia took the gold medal by beating Italy 45-38 in the final whilst Korea beat Germany 45-34 for the bronze medal.

GB placings: Honeybone 28^th, Crutchett 62^nd, Mottershead 116^th & Slankard 132^nd.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Women’s Sabre Grand Prix – Moscow

A relatively small field on 93 included five from Great Britain.  Only Zoe Robinson (V2D4) was able to make it through the first round as Bridget Pleasant (V2D4), Jennifer Sancroft (V0D6), Alice Watson (V0D6) and Sophie Williams (V2D4) failed to make the brutal cut.  British interest in the event ended in the next round as Varhelyi (HUN) knocked Robinson out 15-9 in the preliminary elimination fight.  Ekaterina Diachenko (RUS) won the gold medal beating Vassiliki Vougiouka (GRE) 15-14 in an enthralling final.  Ibtihaj Muhammad (USA) and Anne-Elizabeth Stone (USA) took the bronze medals home.

Full individual results here.

There is now a break of just over a month in the senior international before events resume in Xuzhou (Women’s Epee), Seoul (Men’s & Women’s Foil) and Athens (Men’s Sabre) on the weekend of 25-27^th April.