TEAM SILVER FOR GBR MEN’S CADET EPEE

GB Men’s Cadet Epee Team takes Silver in Budapest, Hungary, at the 2022 EFC Cadet opening event.

The GBR 1 team of Cador Beautyman (Knightsbridge Fencing Club), Oliver Golanowski (Derbyshire Epee Academy), Sameer Sunder Rajan (Brixton Fencing Club) and Cheney Zhu (Knightsbridge Fencing Club) pulled out a great team performance to take second place.

GBR 1 was seeded 7th of the 55 teams at the start of the day and benefitted from a bye through the round of 64, where GB teams 3 and 4 went out respectively to Ukraine 3 and Estonia. GBR 2 progressed to the last 32 with a 45-32 win against the Netherlands.

 The GBR 3 team succumbed to Ukraine 3 in the last 32. GBR 1 faced Spain (45-28) and their GBR 2 squad mates took on Italy 2 (45-41). Both British teams claimed victory and a place in the last 16. There, GBR 2 beat the Switzerland 2 team (45-34) and GBR 1 defeated Greece (45-28).

With two teams still in the last 8, GBR 2 found themselves up against the eventual winners Hungary and were defeated 45-38. The GBR 1 team, meanwhile, scored another victory (45-27) against the Italy 3 team who earlier in the day had pulled off a shock victory over the 3rd ranked Israeli team.

 The semi-final match against Turkey saw a 3- or 4-point difference between the teams until the halfway point, where GBR1 slowly pulled away and built a 45-30 win.

In the final against Hungary, GBR 1 showed great spirit and teamwork to come back from an 8-point deficit. Unfortunately, they couldn’t quite do enough and lost the match 45-43.

Throughout the day, the team worked well together. Each individual made important contributions at different points throughout the route to the final. The GBR 1 Team is now rank 2nd in the EFC rankings. 

Tamas Kovas, Knightsbridge Fencing Club coach who supported the team, said,

“Today was a great team effort. The boys stuck to the strategy in every match and fenced with precise discipline with very few mistakes. They were a great support to each other and formed a very united team.”

Lead Epee Coach for the Athlete Development Programme (ADP), Ian Lichfield, commented,

“At the ADP camps we have continued the focus on team matches. Supporting the athletes to work as a team, making those connections and learning to communicate effectively. It is pleasing to see that our fencers are learning together – two teams making the top 8 is especially pleasing and something to build on. Tamas and Oana did another great job in guiding the athletes throughout the day.”

BF and the ADP would like to thank the parents and the personal coaches for their continued support at the event.

The team are all on the British Fencing Athlete Development Programme, funded by Sport England. More information about ADP camps, programmes and updates can be found here.

Full results for Budapest are here.

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