British Sabre Fencer continues good season

Congratulations to Alexander Crutchett who took part in and won the men’s sabre Satellite event in Helsinki, Finland at the weekend.

He began the day in fine form, winning all of his six first round fights whilst only conceding nine hits.  A field of twenty-two fencers meant that the number one seed for the event, Bustamante (ARG), did not have to fence in the first round and was seeded top for the round of 32.  Crutchett’s first round performance earned him a ranking of second and a bye through to the 16.

Comfortable victories, 15-4 over Pentikainen (FIN) and 15-6 over Winiger (SUI) guaranteed him a medal.  However, his dominant form continued in the semi-final and he eased past Zelikovics (LAT) 15-4.  That meant a match up against the 2012 Pan-American Champion, Joseph Polossofakis (CAN) for the gold medal.

In the final, Crutchett led 8-5 at the break and opened that up to 12-6 before experiencing his first difficult patch of the day.  The Canadian came storming back to level at 12-12.  Crutchett composed himself and went on to win 15-13 with a beautiful change of direction to create the opportunity for the winning hit.

Speaking shortly after the event he said; “The victory builds on the confidence that I gained from my top 16 in Warsaw and becoming British number one once more, as I look forward to competing in Seoul at the end of this month.  Hopefully I will carry this form into the Olympic qualification period, helped by the addition of four more World cup points and a climb in the World Ranking to 83rd.”

The sabre Grand Prix in Seoul begins on 28^th March and is the last sabre event before the qualification period for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games begins.