International Result Round Up – Madrid Men’s Sabre World Cup & Stockholm Men’s Epee Grand Prix

Allen narrowly loses in Stockholm to finish in the top 64

It was a weekend of Men’s Epee and Sabre on the international senior circuit with both events taking place in Europe.

Men’s Sabre World Cup – Madrid

The weekend’s action began in Madrid with the men’s sabre World Cup.  An entry of 142 fencers started including ten from Great Britain.  Only O’Connell (V5D1), Honeybone (V3D3), Ratneswaren (V3D3), Sancroft (V2D4) and Ward (V2D3) made it through the poule stages as Boteler (V1D5), Clarke (V1D4), Alex Crutchett (V0D6), Anthony Crutchett (V1D5) and Rocks (V1D5) were cut.  In the first preliminary knockout Honeybone and O’Connell both earned byes but Ratneswaren lost to Liu (CHN) 15-6, Sancroft went out narrowly, 15-14 to Firat (TUR) and Ward fell to Gemesi (HUN) 15-8.  It was not a good event for the GB team as Honeybone and O’Connell both lost at the second preliminary knockout stage to Schroedter (GER) 15-11 and Boyko (UKR) 15-14 respectively.

The event was won by Limbach (GER) who beat Yakimenko (RUS) 15-13 in the gold medal match.  The bronze medals went to Dumitrescu (ROU) and Montano (ITA).

In the team event Great Britain lost 45-28 in the round of 16 to Germany.  In the placings matches they lost to 45-32 to Hungary and 45-44 to Ukraine before beating Hong Kong 45-36 to finish 15^th.  Head Sabre Coach said; “Disappointing on paper but this is a developing team and we’re getting very close now with some big teams.”  Korea beat Russia 45-42 to take the gold medal whilst China beat Romania 45-43 to take the bronze medal.

GB individual placings:  O’Connell 65^th, Honeybone 71^st, Ratneswaren 97^th, Sancroft 113^th, Ward 116^th, Rocks 119^th, Boteler 129^th, Clarke 130^th, Anthony Crutchett 134^th, Alex Crutchett 138^th

Full Individual Results Here

Full Team Results Here

Men’s Epee Grand Prix – Stockholm

Three British fencers headed to Sweden to join a field of 139 at the Grand Prix in Stockholm.  A disappointing start from Skipp (V0D6) and Willis (V1D5) saw them cut after the first round of poules but Allen (V4D2) made it through and earned himself a bye through the first of two preliminary knockout bouts.  In the second he put in a dominant performance against Heidecker (CAN) by winning 15-9.  In the round of 64 he faced Torkildsen (NOR) and took it to the wire but eventually lost 15-14.  The event was won by Novosjolov (EST) who beat Imre (HUN) 15-14 in a thrilling final.  The bronze medals went to two French fencers Lucenay and Robeiri.

It is also worth noting that one of our Board Directors, David King and our Media Officer, Karim Bashir, provided the live commentary for the Swedish Fencing Federation which was broadcast on the FIE YouTube Chanel.  You can find the coverage here.

GB Individual placings:  Allen 51^st, Willis 126^th, Skipp 135^th.

Full Individual Results Here

Next up on the international circuit is the Women’s Epee Grand Prix in Havanah, the Men’s Foil World Cup in Seoul and Women’s Sabre Grand Prix in Tianjin.