Tough weekend for British fencers

Senior Men’s Sabre – Warsaw World Cup

Eight British fencers lined up in a field of one hundred and eighty-five in the individual event in Poland at the weekend.  Alex Crutchett (V4D2), Will Deary (V3D3), James Honeybone (V4D2) and Jonathan Webb (V3D3) progressed through the first round but Jacob Gander Compton (V1D5), Curtis Miller (V1D5), Stephen Rocks (V1D5) and Kirk Slankard (V2D4) did not do enough to make the cut.  Fencers were required to win two preliminary elimination fights to make the round of 64.  In the first, Streets (JPN) beat Crutchett 15-14, Postoev (RUS) defeated Honeybone 15-6 and Redwanz (GER) overcame Webb 15-11 but Deary went through 15-11 over Bazadze (GEO).  He then came up against Polossofakis (CAN) who was fighting for Olympic qualification.  The Canadian fencer progressed 15-11.  The gold medal match was an all-Korean affair which Bongil Gu won 15-13 – beating Junho Kim.  Aliaksandr Buikevich (BLR) and Kamil Imbragimov (RUS) claimed the bronze medals.

Great Britain lost 45-33 to Belgium in the round of 32 of the team event to place seventeenth.  The USA went on to win the event, beating Russia 45-43 in the final.  Germany beat Italy 45-40 to secure the bronze medal.

GB individual placings:  Deary 86^th, Honeybone 97^th, Crutchett 100^th, Webb 115^th, Slankard 136^th=, Miller 150^th, Rocks 151^st & Gander Compton 171^st.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.

Senior Women’s Sabre – Sint-Niklaas

Three British fencers took part in the individual event in Belgium at the weekend, lining up in a field of one hundred and sixty-five.  Only Katherine Kempe (V2D3) survived the first round cut as Bridget Pleasant (V1D6) and Jennifer Sancroft (V0D6) did not do enough to make it through.  Kempe’s attempt to make the second day failed as she lost 15-12 to Thompson (USA) in the first of two preliminary knockout fights.  Olga Kharlan (UKR) won the event, beating Yana Egorian (RUS) 15-10 in the gold medal match as Jiyeon Kim (KOR) and Sofya Velikaya (RUS) picked up the bronze medals.

Great Britain did not enter the team event which was won by Russia who beat France 45-33 in the gold medal match.  Ukraine beat Italy 45-41 for the bronze medal.

GB individual placings:  Kempe 113^th, Pleasant 148^th & Sancroft 163^rd=.

Full individual results here.

Full team results here.