Ian Ren claims silver in Romania

Ian Ren fought his way through a field of one hundred and twenty-five to finish second at the European Confederation Cadet circuit event in Bucharest at the weekend.  Flying the British flag alone he reached the final, losing out to World number 20, Bohdan Bohovin of Ukraine in the final.

He won all five of his first round fights, remarkably dropping just three hits, to claim second seed for the direct elimination stages and a bye through the round of 128.  He went on to beat Romanian World number 247, Andrei Paudre 15-8, another Romanian, Marco Sovar by the same score, Spanish World number 230, Gael Abejon 15-9 and Chilean World number 201, Roberto Monsalva, 15-9 to make the semi-finals.

With a guaranteed podium finish his next opponent was Kuwaiti, World number 80, Mohammed Alfadhli who he beat 15-10 to confirm his place in the gold medal match.  There he faced Ukraine’s World number 20, who was too strong on the day, winning 15-9.

Speaking after the event, Ian’s coach, Alex Bela said, “It was a good competition.  I was interested to see Ian with a good attitude on the piste and also his other strong opponents for the two upcoming major tournaments of the season (the Euuropean and World Championships).  He had a good day, moved on the piste really well, used the right tactics and in the end that made all the difference.  I am really pleased with his performance and attitude – it was a good experience for both of us.”

This competition was the last one from the circuit before the European Championships that are being held in Russia at the beginning of March.  This strong result will see him climb the World rankings from his pre-event position of sixth.  (Note:  The World rankings were not updated at the time of publication.)

View the complete results here.