Curran Jones and Honeybone pick up satellite silver medals

Senior Men’s Foil – Tokyo World Cup

Seven British fencers were involved in the individual event in Japan amongst a field of one hundred and eighty-four.  James Davis did not compete in the preliminary rounds as his world ranking qualified him automatically for the round of 64.  Laurence Halsted (V5D1), Richard Kruse (V5D1), Marcus Mepstead (V3D3), Ben Peggs (V3D3) and Alex Tofalides (V2D4) all progressed through the first round but Amol Rattan (V1D5) did not.  Halsted’s first round performance earned him a bye through to the round of 64. Kruse did enough to earn a bye through the first of a two-stage preliminary knockout whilst Peggs defeated Chang (USA) 15-14, Tofalides beat Babaoglu (TUR) 15-7 but Lefort (FRA) knocked out Mepstead 15-7.  Only Tofalides was able to join Davis and Halsted on day two of the event as he beat Plocharski (POL) 15-12.  Cheung (HKG) beat Kruse 15-9 and Essam (EGY) saw off Peggs, 15-10.  British hopes were shattered in the round of 64 as Pauty (FRA) defeated Davis 15-12, Ha (KOR) beat Halsted 15-7 and Ota (JPN) knocked out Tofalides 15-13.

Alex Massialas (USA) went on the win the event beating Jun Heo (KOR) 15-10 in the final whilst Gerek Meinhardt (USA) and Yuki Ota (JPN) picked up the bronze medals.  Remarkably, this is the first time since March 2012 that Kruse has failed to make the 64 at a World Cup or Grand Prix. 

Davis, Halsted, Kruse and Mepstead lined up for Great Britain in the team event that included entries from eighteen other nations.  Receiving a bye through the incomplete round of 32 meant that they faced Egypt in the round of 16 who they beat 45-31.  A tight 42-41 victory over Russia in the quarterfinals meant that they faced the USA in the semi-finals where they lost 45-26.  In the bronze medal play-off the Chinese team were too strong, winning 45-33.  The USA went on to take the gold medal beating France 45-33.

GB individual placings:  Davis 34^th, Halsted 43^rd, Tofalides 64^th, Kruse 67^th, Peggs 88^th, Mepstead 128^th & Rattan 154=.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Senior Women’s Foil – St. Maur World Cup

Eight British fencers were amongst the field of one hundred and seventy-seven in France at the weekend.  Only Ayesha Fihosy and Natalia Sheppard made the first round cut, each winning four of their six first round fights.  Amy Church (V0D6), Ruth Clarke (V1D5), Catherine Cook (V0D6), Chloe Dickson (V2D4), Phillippa Mullins (V1D5) and Katie Smith (V2D4) were eliminated before the knockout stages.  Sadly neither remaining British fencer made it to day two of the event as both Fihosy and Sheppard went out in their first preliminary knockout fights, 15-2 to Gimenez (VEN) and 11-10 to Ojeda (ESP), respectively.

In the all Italian final Arianna Errigo beat Elisa Di Francisca 12-11 as Carolin Golubytskyi (GER) and Lee Keifer (USA) picked up the bronze medals.

Cook, Dickson, Sheppard and Smith lined up for Great Britain in the team event amongst a field of sixteen.  They faced the number one seeds, Italy in the round of 16 and lost 45-16.  They went on to lose 45-20 to Hungary before beating Hong Kong 30-29 and Japan 43-37 to finish thirteenth.  It was no surprise to see Italy facing Russia in the final.  The margin of victory was though, as Italy dominated to win 45-25.  France beat Korea 45-34 for the bronze medal.

GB placings:  Sheppard 97^th, Fihosy 104^th, Smith 133^rd, Dickson 135^th, Clarke 145^th, Mullins 146^th, Cook 171^st & Church 177^th.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Senior Men’s Epee – Copenhagen Satellite

Two British fencers lined up for this event in a field of eighty-two.  Tomas Curran Jones (V5D1) and Paul Sanchez-Lethem (V3D3) both made it through the first round.  In the round of 64, Curran Jones beat Olsen (DEN) 15-7 whilst Sanchez-Lethem defeated Hazes (NOR) 15-10.  In the next round Sanchez-Lethem fell 15-10 to Kurbanov (KAZ) but Curran Jones defeated Sharlaimov (KAZ) 15-7 and then Gustavsson (SWE) 15-6 to make the quarterfinals.  He went on to beat Krasikovas (LTU) 15-7 before losing 15-8 to Alexanin (KAZ).  The fencer from Kazakhstan went on to win the tournament, beating Von Der Osten (NED) 15-8 in the gold medal match.  Curran Jones was joined in the bronze medal position by Deryabin (KAZ).  This was a fine performance from a promising young British fencer.    

Full individual results here.

GB placings:  Curran Jones 3^rd & Sanchez-Lethem 29^th.

Senior Women’s Epee – Copenhagen Satellite

Abbi Matthews represented Great Britain in a field of forty-seven.  She won three of her five first round matches, thus qualifying for the knockout stages.  A bye through the incomplete round of 64 was followed by defeat 15-11 to Lin (TPE).  Ayaka Shimookawa (JPN) won the event beating Julia Kirschen (GER) 15-2 in the final.  The bronze medals went to Dagmar Ciparova (SVK) and Nicol Foietta (ITA).

GB placing:  Matthews 24^th.

Full individual results here.

Senior Men’s Sabre – Amsterdam Satellite

Four British fencers lined up in a field of sixty at this event.  Alex Crutchett (V5D1), James Honeybone (V5D0) and Nicholas Howes (V4D2) progressed through the first round but Peter Howes (V0D5) did not.  Crutchett and Honeybone had byes through the round of 64 and were joined by N. Howes in the 32 as he beat Van Haselen (NED) 15-7.  Crutchett went on to beat Goossens (NED) 15-8 and De Robbio (ITA) 15-7 to make the quarterfinal and was joined by Honeybone who beat Romero (VEN) 15-4 and Teodosiu (ROU) 15-12.  Howes fell in the 32, 15-14 to Huelshoerster (GER).  In the round of 8 Crutchett lost 15-9 to Polossifakis (CAN) but Honeybone beat Willau (AUT) 15-6 and then Carvajal (VEN) 15-10 to make the gold medal match.  He finished the event as runner-up losing to Polossifakis (CAN) 15-9 in the final with Badea (ROU) and Carvajal (VEN) taking the bronze medals. 

GB placings:  Honeybone 2nd, Crutchett 8th, N. Howes 26th & P. Howes 59th.

Full individual results here.

Junior Women’s Epee – Espoo

Nine British fencers were amongst the field of one hundred and eighty-four in Finland.  Kerenza Bryson (V5D1), Jessica Gundry (V4D2), Victoria Hide (V2D4), Danielle Lawson (V4D2), Lydia Stanier (V4D2), Alix Turley (V3D2) and Rebecca Wakefield (V3D3) progressed through the first round but Ellen Bradley (V1D5) and Medora McCarthy (V1D5) did not make the cut.  Of the remaining British fencers all but Hide had byes through the incomplete round of 256.  Hide was unable to join them in the 128 as she lost 15-14 to Jagielko (POL).  Only Lydia Stanier was able to progress any further as she knocked out teammate Turley 15-7.  She went on to beat Nixon (USA) 15-12 and Cisneros (ESP) 15-14 before losing 15-11 to Marzani (ITA) in the round of 16.  Giana Vierheller (USA) won the event beating Irina Okhotnikova (RUS) 15-13 in the final as Eleonora De Marchi (ITA) and Tamara Gnam (HUN) picked up the bronze medals.

Gundry, Lawson, McCarthy and Stanier lined up for Great Britain as one of nineteen entries into the team event.  They faced a strong Swedish team in the round of 32 and lost 45-43 to finish seventeenth.  Italy beat Russia 45-37 to take the gold whilst the USA beat Hungary 45-36 for the bronze medal.

GB placings:  Stanier 13^th, Bryson 73^rd, Gundry 84^th, Lawson 94^th, Turley 97^th, Wakefield 110^th, Hide 146^th, McCarthy 157^th & Bradley 163^rd.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Cadet Men’s Foil – Modling

GB placings:  De Almeida 18th, Monnet 29th, Jolley 31st, Jones 69th, Page 72nd, Abrahams 74th, Woolley 88th, Head 89=, Ashby 101st, Fardell 134th, Howlett 181st, Stezaker 203rd, Attias 207th, Gautam 229th & Jerome 242nd. 

Cadet Women’s Foil – Modling

GB placings:  Gill 22nd, Y. Campbell 65th, A. Campbell 77th, B. Granville 84th, Patel 86th, De Lange 98th, Black 101st, Home 114th, Barrett 116th, Hughes 142nd, Fairman 156th=, Shaw 158th, Babaeva 167th, Brown 170th & Curwen 176th.

Cadet Men’s Sabre – Sofia

GB placings:  Edwards 9th & Le Maitre 41st.