INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT REPORT – 5 MAY 2014

It was a busy weekend on the senior international circuit with no less than five events across three weapons on three continents.

Women’s Foil World Cup – Shanghai

There were 121 competitors in Shanghai, China at the weekend including Great Britain’s Natalia Sheppard.

Sheppard faced Astrid Guyart (FRA), World number 20 in the round of 64 and beat her 15-11.  Her day was ended by Huilin Le (CHN), World number 19, 12-7 in the round of 32.  Arianna Errigo (ITA) won the gold medal, beating Inna Deriglazova (RUS) 15-14 in the final.  The bronze medals were shared by Hee Sook Jeon (KOR) and Ysaora Thibus (FRA).

In the team event Italy beat Russia, 45-39, to take the gold medal whilst Korea beat France 45-36 for the bronze medal.

GB placing:  Sheppard 30^th.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Men’s Epee World Cup – Paris

A massive field of 256 fencers took part in this event including six from Great Britain.  Greg Allen (V2D4), Matthew Henderson (V0D6), Philip Marsh (V0D5) and Gareth Thomas (V1D5) did not make the tough first round cut but Nick Perry (V3D3) and Paul Sanchez-Lethem (V3D3).  Those two faced three qualifying knockout rounds to make the second day but neither could make it past the first one as Ni (CHN) knocked Perry out 15-7 and Pokorny (CZE) beat Sanchez-Lethem by the same score.

Pavel Sukhov (RUS) won the gold medal beating Alex Fava (FRA) 15-10 in the final.  Jinsun Jung (KOR) and Jean-Michel Lucenay (FRA) took the bronze medals.

Great Britain did not enter the team event but 29 other countries did as Switzerland beat Italy 29-15 for the gold medal and Korea beat France 45-30 for the bronze medal.

GB Placing:  Sanchez-Lethem 164^th, Perry 171^st, Allen 193^rd, Thomas 235^th, Marsh 241^st & Henderson 251^st.

Full individual results are here.

Full team results are here.

Men’s Sabre World Cup – Chicago

Seven British fencers were part of the field of 169 at the Mens’ Sabre World Cup in Chicago, USA.  Soji Aiyenuro (V4D2), Alex Crutchett (V3D3), James Honeybone (V3D3), Curtis Miller (V2D4), Thomas Mottershead (V2D4) and Brynmor Saunders (V2D4) made the first round cut but Kirk Slankard (V1D5) did not.  In the first of two preliminary qualifiers Aiyenuro beat Mottershead 15-11 and Honeybone defeated Marcus (USA) but the other fencers went out – Saunders (USA) beat Crutchett 15-10, Zatko (FRA) won 15-10 over Miller and Miyayama (JPN) got the better of Saunders 15-8.  In the second qualifying knockout round Kindler (GER) beat Aiyenuro 15-6 and Iliasz (HUN) defeated Honeybone 15-8.

Luigi Samele (ITA) beat teammate Aldo Montano 15-12 to take the gold medal whilst Enrico Berre (ITA) and Alexey Yakimenko took the bronze medals.

Great Britain (Aiyenuro, Crutchett, Honeybone & Miller) were one of twenty-two teams entered into the competition on Sunday.  They beat Singapore 45-22 in the round of 32 but then fell 45-34 to number four seeds, Germany, in the round of 16.  In the placings matches they lost 45-31 to Argentina, beat Japan 45-38 and then beat Spain by default (as they withdrew from the event) to finish thirteenth.  Russia took the gold medal beating Italy 45-41 whilst Korea overcame Romania 45-39 for the bronze medal.

GB individual placings:  Honeybone 85^th, Aiyenuro 77^th, Crutchett 111^th, Miller 120^th, Saunders 118^th, Mottershead 128^th= & Slankard 149^th=.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Women’s Sabre World Cup – Chicago

Four British fencers joined a field of 152 in Chicago.  Joanna Hutchison (V2D4) and Aliya Itzkowitz (V4D2) made the first round cut but Emily Ruaux (V1D5) and Alice Watson (V0D5) did not.  In the first of two qualifying knockout rounds Tamura (JPN) beat Hutchison 15-10 but Itzkowitz progressed with a bye.  She then went on to beat Petraglia (ITA) 15-6 to make the second day.  There, in the round of 64, she faced Illarianova (RUS) and lost 15-9.

Mariel Zagunis (USA) went on to take the gold medal, beating Victoriya Kovaleva (RUS) 15-13.  Charlotte Lembach (FRA) and Irene Vecchi (ITA) took the bronze medals home.

Great Britain did not compete in the team event but nineteen other teams did.  Russia beat the host nation, USA, to the gold medal with a 45-38 victory.  The bronze medal went Ukraine who beat Italy 45-42. 

GB individual placings:  Itzkowitz 51st, Hutchison 107th, Ruaux 136th & Watson 146th.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Men’s Foil Grand Prix – Tokyo

The field of 121 fencers in Tokyo, Japan, included four from Great Britain.  James Davis had a bye straight through to the round of 64 but the others had to compete in the qualifying rounds.  Richard Kruse (V6D0) and Alex Tofalides (V5D1) did enough in the first round to qualify directly to the round of 64.  Unfortunately, Jamie Fitzgerald only managed to win one of his six fights and did not make it out of the first round.  In the round of 64 Kruse beat Arslanov (RUS) 15-12 to progress but Davis and Tofalides were knocked out by Nista (ITA) 15-12 and Son (KOR) 15-14, respectively.  Kruse went on to beat Cheung (HKG) 15-12 in the round of 32 before losing to the eventual winner Meinhardt (USA) to finish 11^th.

Gerek Meinhardt (USA) took the gold medal by beating Jianfei Ma (CHN) 15-14 in the final.  Race Imboden and Alex Massialas won the bronze medals making this a good outing for the American team.

GB individual placings:  Kruse 11th, Davis 36th, Tofalides 44th & Fitzgerald 114th.

Full individual results here.

The senior circuit continues this coming weekend with a Men’s Epee Grand Prix in Berne.