PISA PARA FENCING WORLD CUP 2023 REPORT

Maggie Maynard reports on the recent Para Fencing World Cup, which took place in Pisa.

Fencing started at 9am on Thursday 16th March with the Men’s Foil Cat A, which included Oliver Lam Watson* and Josh Waddell. Piers Gilliver was unable to fence. At the same time, Justine Moore* started the Women’s Epee Cat B. Oliver achieved 11th place and Josh was 32nd. Justine was placed 10th in her event.

At 1pm Dimitri Coutya* and Shah Rashid began the Men’s Foil Cat B, and Gemma Collis* Emily Holder and Susanne Seddon-Cowell started the Women’s Epee Cat A. Dimitri won GOLD in his event, with brilliant work throughout, and Shah was 26th. Gemma had a spectacular run through this event, beating several old rivals on the way to a GOLD medal. Susanne was placed 29th and Emily 30th.

Friday 17th March saw Emily Holder and Susanne Seddon-Cowell start in the Women’s Foil Cat A. Susanne was placed 31st, and Emily 32nd. At the same time, Dimitri Coutya and Shah Rashid started in the Men’s Sabre Cat B. Dimitri finished 14th and Shah 19th. At 1pm, Justine Moore fenced in the Women’s Foil Cat B, placing 19th. Piers Gilliver did not fence in the Men’s Sabre Cat A.

On Saturday 18th March the Men’s Epee Cat A began at 9am, with Oliver Lam Watson and Joshua Waddell. Piers Gilliver was entered but withdrew, finishing 17th. Oliver finished 23rd and Josh 28th. At 1pm, the Men’s Epee Cat B began. Dimitri Coutya* finished with a BRONZE medal. At the same time, Gemma Collis and Susanne Seddon-Cowell were fencing in the Women’s Sabre Cat A. Gemma was 6th, and Susanne was 28th.

*These fencers had byes, so started fencing at the DE stage.

On Sunday 19th March, the Team competitions started at 9am. The GBR Men’s Epee team was Dimitri Coutya, Oliver Lam Watson, Josh Waddell and Shah Rashid. Piers Gilliver was unable to fence. In the Last 16, GBR had a convincing win over USA, then met China in the Last 8. This was a close and exciting match with all the GBR fencers fencing very well. The match ended 40-45 to China. In the 5-8 tableau, GBR met Italy. Again, it was an extremely skilful and close match, Italy just overtaking GBR 45-41 in the last couple of fights. The GBR team finished in 7th place.

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