Maxwell gets best result for Great Britain
The 2015 Cadet World Championships began on 1st April with three days of individual events followed by a day of mixed teams.
Day One
Men’s Epee
These Championships kicked off with the men’s individual epee event and Great Britain was represented by Matthew Dickinson, Devlin Stigant and Roo Whelan. They formed part of the one hundred and six-strong field as Stigant and Whelan progressed through the first round with four victories from six fights. Dickinson did not make the first round cut winning just one of his five fights in a poule which saw a fencer from Kuwait withdraw. Stigant and Whelan earned themselves byes through the round of 128 and Whelan went on to make the round of 32 by beating Daejin Kim 15-12. Stigant went out in the round of 64, losing 15-6 to Marenco (ITA). Britain’s interest in this event ended in the round of 32 as Whelan fell, 15-10 to Horowitz (USA).
Myeongki Kim (KOR) became the World Champion in a nail-biting final. He faced Jakub Jurka (CZE) in the gold medal match and took a 10-6 lead into the first break which saw the Czech fencer go over his back line twice. During the break Jurka was clearly instructed not to retreat beyond his on guard line and that alone turned the fight on its head. The two fencers went toe-to-toe with Jurka drawing level but Kim took the title 15-14. Loic Beaulieau (CAN) and Bence Bende (HUN) left with the bronze medals.
GB placing: Whelan 25th, Stigant 41st & Dickinson 86th.
Women’s Epee
A field of eighty-eight took part in this event. Danielle Lawson and Rebecca Wakefield were representing Great Britain and they both took four victories from six fights in the first round, earning byes through the incomplete round of 128. In the round of 64 Lawson beat Zivanovic (SRB) 15-13 but Wakefield fell 15-5 to Tejeda (MEX). Lawson then faced Lee-Elabd (USA) in the round of 32 and was beaten 15-12 in a closer match than the score tells.
In an intriguing final, last year’s silver medalist, Kinga Nagy (HUN) faced Alexandra Predescu (ROU). After a close and low scoring first period the referee called for non-combativity in the second which quickly moved the fight into a third and final period. The two fencers traded hits mainly when on the attack but then backed off. With the score tied at 5-5 at time, Nagy got the priority for a final minute of fencing and surprisingly went on the attack. Predescu was ready and became the World Champions with a counter-action.
GB placings: Lawson 26th & Wakefield 42nd.
Day Two
Women’s Sabre
Maria Chart, Jessica Corby and Caitlin Maxwell formed part of a field of fifty-eight in this event. Chart (V0D6) did not make the first round cut but Corby (V3D3) and Maxwell (V4D1) did. The latter earned a bye through the round of 64 and was joined in the next round by Corby, who beat Cho (KOR) 15-12. In the round of 32 Maxwell came from behind to defeat Boungab (ALG) 15-14 but Corby fell 15-7 to eventual bronze medalist, Klimova (RUS). Klimova then went on to beat Maxwell 15-13 in the round of 16.
Olga Nikitina (RUS) became the World Champion beating Lucia Lucarini (ITA) in the final. Misaki Emura (JPN) joined Alexandra Klimova (RUS) on the bronze medal step of the podium.
GB placings: Maxwell 14th, Corby 27th & Chart 58th.
Men’s Foil
Eighty-six fencers started this event where Harry Bird, Dominic De Almeida and Daniel Kiss represented Great Britain. Bird and Kiss won two of their six first round matches and De Almeida won one of his five fights, meaning that they all progressed. De Almeida drew Bird in the round of 128 and went through with a 15-13 victory. Kiss also progress through that round beating Al-Asmi (QAT) 15-7. Neither De Almeida nor Kiss made it any further as they were defeated 15-8 by Lee (KOR) and 15-13 by Ng (SIN), respectively.
Samuel Moelis (USA) beat Grigoriy Semenyuk (RUS) 15-12 to take the World crown in a thrilling final. The bronze medalists were Tamas Meszaros (HUN) and Geoffrey Tourette (USA)
GB placings: Kiss 61st, De Almeida 63rd & Bird 66th.
Day Three
Women’s Foil
Sixty-seven fencers took part in the penultimate cadet individual event of these championships. Yasmin Campbell and Jade Rowland adorned their GBR stripes and both progressed through the first round – Campbell (V5D1) and Rowland (V3D3). Campbell did enough to earn a bye through the round of 64 as Rowland beat Mohamed 15-9. Unfortunately that was as far as they could go as Li (CAN) defeated Campbell 15-8 and Deschner (USA) beat Rowland 15-3.
Cadet European Champion, Leonie Ebert (GER) became the World Champion in a stunning gold medal match. She came from behind in the third period to beat Serena Rossini (ITA), 15-14. Sylvie Binder (USA) and Victoria Yusova (RUS) secured the bronze medals.
GB placings: Campbell 20th & Rowland 28th.
Men’s Sabre
Seventy-one fencers took part in this event including three from Great Britain. Eden Amsalem (V2D3), George Suddards (V3D3) all did enough in the first round to qualify for the knockout stages but all were beaten in the round of 64. Soler (FRA) took Amsalem 15-7, Alqudihi (KSA) beat Suddards 15-7 and Kang defeated Watt 15-11.
Another stunning gold medal match finished off the cadet individual events as Dongju Kim (KOR) beat European Champion, Konstantin Lokhanov (RUS) 15-14 to take the title. Two Italians, Alberto Arpino and Matteo Neri were the bronze medalists.
GB placings: Suddards 40th, Amsalem 44th & Watt 53rd.
Day Four
Mixed Team Event
The FIE laid on a special mixed team event at these championship where teams were made up from one representative in each of the six weapons. Great Britain fielded a team comprised of Roo Whelan, Danielle Lawson, Eden Amsalem, Caitlin Maxwell, Daniel Kiss and Yasmin Campbell. A bye through the incomplete round of 32 saw them face Poland in the round of 16. The teams were evenly matched after the two epee bouts but Poland pulled away during the two sabre fights and went on to win 30-21 after the two foil fights.
The losing semi-finalists, Russia and the USA, had to fight off for the bronze medal and a great match followed. At the conclusion of the six fights they were tied at 28-28 with the Russians having come from 25-21 behind in the women’s foil leg. The Russian team was awarded priority and went on to win 29-28.
The gold medal match between Korea and Japan was just as compelling. Japan came from 25-22 down in the final leg to tie the match at 28-all at the end of regulation time. They were awarded the priority but the Koreans took the title 29-28 with Jandee Mo scoring the winning hit.
Link to full results for each event can be found here.
With the Cadet events over the competition moved on to five days of Junior events.
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