Promising Young Team Bag Warsaw Medal Ahead of World Championships

Great Britain’s Wheelchair Fencing team have recently returned from two events in Warsaw with a remarkable six medals including two golds.  The achievement was all the more spectacular given that the team included three teenagers all of whom appeared on the podium.

The star of the show was Piers Gilliver who at just 18 years old took the bronze medal in the Men’s Cat A Epee event.  He stormed through his poule winning every fight making history by being the first British Wheelchair fencer to top the rankings for a World Cup event.  He went on to win three knockout fights to make the semi-final, including a tough win against teammate Simon Wilson.  In the semi-final, he faced world number one, Artur Yusupov (RUS) and at one point led 8-6, but the Russian showed his experience and took the fight 15-12.  Gilliver followed up this performance by taking the gold medal in the U23 Cat A Epee Worlds and silver in the U23 Cat A Foil Worlds.

Speaking after the event, he said; “Warsaw 2013 was a fantastic event for me.  Obviously I am thrilled to have taken a gold and silver at the Junior World Championships and it was a proud moment for me to hear my National Anthem played whilst on the podium but for me personally, my best result was to take a bronze medal at a senior world cup. For me I feel it is a huge step forward.  Competing internationally is also a great way to gauge where you are within your sport but I have to say, bearing in mind that I have only been fencing for just under three years and competing internationally for one year, I have found it quite strange to find myself consistently producing good competitive results in my favoured weapon Epee so early in my fencing career!  My plans for the future are to continue to improve and produce consistent podium places and training, training and more training in order to make my goal of representing Great Britain in my sport at Rio 2016 a reality!”

Dimitri Coutya and Gabi Down (both 15) also came home with medals.  Coutya took the U23 Cat B Men’s epee gold and foil silver whilst Gabi Down took the U23 Cat A Women’s foil silver and epee bronze.  Clearly delighted, Coutya said; “I was absolutely thrilled by my result in the epee and pleased with my result in the foil.  What a powerful feeling it was to listen to Great Britain’s national anthem when I was receiving my medal and the title that came with it!  I would like to thank all my coaches, friends and family for their support.  Without them, I am certain that I would not have been up there on that podium, receiving the gold.”  Down added; “Really happy with how I fenced.  It gives me a definite goal for next year.  I want to be on the top of that podium hearing my national anthem.”

Head Coach, Lazlo Jakab spoke after the event and said; “This weekend and these fantastic results was one of the best of recent history of British Disabled fencing.  This young group is very promising for the future of wheelchair fencing!”  Justine Wilmott added; “Results from the Warsaw World Cup and U23 World Junior Event demonstrate the high potential of the emerging young Wheelchair Fencers from Great Britain and bode well for the forthcoming World Championships in Budapest (7^th-12^th August).”

OVERALL RESULTS:

WARSAW WORLD CUP SENIOR OPEN CAT A EPEE- BRONZE-PIERS GILLIVER

U23 WARSAW WORLD CUP OPEN

CAT A WOMENS EPEE- SILVER GABI DOWN,   FOIL-BRONZE- GABI DOWN

CAT A MENS EPEE- GOLD- PIERS GILLIVER, FOIL- SILVER

CAT B MENS EPEE-GOLD  FOIL-BRONZE