Report from the final Sabre Grand Prix of the season

The final Sabre Grand Prix of the season took place in Moscow, Russia at the weekend.

Men’s Sabre

One hundred and seventy-seven fencers took part in this event and Great Britain was represented by Soji Aiyenuro, Alex Crutchett, Jacob Gander Compton, James Honeybone, Patrick Jennings, Curtis Miller, James Potter and Brynmor Saunders.  Only Aiyenuro (V3D3), Crutchett (V3D3), Gander Compton V2D4) and Honeybone (V4D2) made the first round cut.  Jennings (V0D6), Miller (V1D5), Potter (V0D5) and Saunders (V0D6) did not progress.

Honeybone earned a bye through the first fight of the two-stage preliminary knockout and was joined in the second stage by Crutchett who beat Iskandarov (RUS) 15-13.  Arfa (CAN) beat Aiyenuro 15-13 and Botezatu (RUS) defeated Gander Compton 15-10.  In the second preliminary Murolo (ITA) beat Crutchett 15-7 but Honeybone progressed to the round of 64 with a 15-13 victory over Botezatu.  Honeybone then faced Reshetnikov (RUS) on Saturday and fell 15-7 to the Russian.

Tiberiu Dolniceanu (ROU) won the event, beating Matyas Szabo (GER) 15-11 in the gold medal match as the Hungarians Tamas Desci and Aron Szilagyi took the bronze medals.

GB individual placings:  Honeybone 50^th, Crutchett 86^th, Aiyenuro 107^th, Gander Compton 125^th, Miller 149^th, Jennings 165^th, Potter 169^th and Saunders 175^th.

Click here for full results.

Women’s Sabre

In the women’s event, Aliya Itzkowitz, Katherine Kempe, Bridget Pleasant and Sophie Williams represented Great Britain in a field of one hundred and sixty-nine fencers.  Itzkowitz (V2D4), Kempe (V0D6), Pleasant (V0D6) and Williams (V1D5) did not progress through the first round.

Olga Kharlan (UKR) beat Yana Egorian (RUS) 15-10 to take the title with Ekaterina Dyachenko (RUS) and Sofya Velikaya (RUS) securing the bronze medals.

GB individual placings:  Itzkowitz 134^th, Williams 151^st, Kempe 157^th and Pleasant 168^th.

Click here for full results.

The next event involving British Fencers is the European Championships in Montreux, Switzerland which begins on 6^th June.