WARSAW PARA FENCING WORLD CUP 2023 –  REPORT

BF Para Fencing Manager Maggie Maynard reports on the recent Para Fencing World Cup, which took place in Warsaw, Poland.

Fencing started on 6^th July at 9am with Men’s Epee Cat A. Piers Gilliver, Oliver Lam-Watson and Joshua Waddell fenced. Joshua was 24^th, and Oliver was 25^th. Piers won GOLD.

At 1pm, the Men’s Epee Cat B began with Dimitri Coutya. Dimitri won BRONZE.

At 1.30pm, the Woman’s Sabre Cat A started with Gemma Collis, who had a bye, and Susanne Seddon-Cowell. Susanne was 23^rd, and Gemma won BRONZE. A great start for GBR!

On 7^th July at 9am, the Women’s Foil Cat A started with Emily Holder. Emily came 23^rd. At the same time, the Men’s Sabre Cat B started with Dimitri Coutya and Shah Rashid. Shah came 14^th, and Dimitri was 16th.

At 1pm, the Women’s Foil Cat B started, with Justine Moore. Justine came 12^th.

At the same time, the Men’s Sabre Cat A started. Piers Gilliver and James Burke fenced. This was Jame’s first ever World Cup, and he had prepared well despite some recent setbacks. He was very keen to learn from the experience. In the poule, he won his first fight and earned a DE. He was placed 36^th. By virtue of his ranking, Piers had a bye through the poules and finally won GOLD.

On the 8^th July, the fencing started at 8am. First to take place was the Men’s Foil Cat A with Oliver Lam-Watson, who had a bye, and Joshua Waddell. Oliver was placed 20^th, and Joshua 29^th.

At the same time, the Women’s Epee Cat B started with Justine Moore. She was placed 24^th.

At 12 noon, the Men’s Foil Cat B began with Dimitri and Shah. Dimitri was 5^th, and Shah 31^st.

At 1.30pm, the Woman’s Epee Cat A started. Gemma had a bye, and Emily and Susanne fenced the poules. Gemma was placed 9^th, Emily 30^th and Susanne 31^st.

Sunday was team day! Staring at 9am, the Women’s Epee Team event started. The team was Gemma, Justine, Emily and Susanne. GBR met KOR in the first match. Due to a misunderstanding, Susanne was put in to fence in this match, despite lack of preparation. The team fought hard, but was defeated 33-45.

The next match was against KUW – the first time a KUW women’s team had taken part in a World Cup team event. The final result was 45-7, and the GBR team was friendly and supportive towards the KUW women.

The final match was to decide 9^th/10^th place. This was against ITA. Gemma was reserve in this match, and the final result was 38 – 45 to ITA. GBR therefore finished 10^th.

The Men’s Foil Team of Piers, Dimitri, Oliver and Joshua started with the GBR team having a bye to the Last 16, where they met HKG. The result was 45 – 32. In the Last 8, GBR met GER. A comfortable win, 45 – 27, took the GBR team into the Last 4. In the semi-final, GBR met CHN. A tough match, GBR lost 32 – 45.  The Bronze medal match was against HUN. The score was 45 – 38, so GBR gained the BRONZE medal.

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