Bronze medal for men’s foil team

The 2016 Junior World Championships began in Bourges, France on 5^th April with three days of individual events followed by three days of teams.

Day One

Women’s Foil

A flying start from Yvonne Chart saw her winning all six of her first round matches meaning that she was ranked third for the elimination stages.  Ayesha Fihosy and Jade Rowland both won four of their six first round matches.  Katie Smith was eliminated after winning just one fight in the first round.  Chart and Fihosy did enough to get byes through the round of 128 but Rowland fell 15-4 to Dlugosz (POL) at that stage.

In the 64 Chart beat Hou (TPE) 15-12 and Fihosy defeated Butruille (FRA) by the same score.  That was to be it for the British entry into this event as Bianchin (ITA) beat Chart 15-10 and Cipressa knocked out Fihosy 15-5 in the round of 32.

Sabrina Massialas (USA) claimed the gold medal, beating Erica Cipressa (ITA) 15-9 in the final.  Martyna Dlugosz (POL) and Yiting Fu (CHN) secured the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Chart 17, Fihosy 27, Rowland 68 & Smith 107.

Men’s Sabre

In this event Joshua Maxwell won five of his six first round match and Simon Dacey, Will Deary and Jonathan Webb won four from six.  In the 128, Dacey beat Yoshida (JPN) 15-11, Deary defeated Hoshino (JPN) 15-5 and Maxwell edged out Hezer (TUR) 15-14 but Riccardi (ITA) knocked out Webb 15-12.  Only Deary made it through the round of 64, beating Huang (CHN) 15-6 as Lee (KOR) beat Dacey 15-3 and Hernandez Cabellero (ESP) saw off Maxwell 15-10.  Maxwell’s day ended in the round of 32 as he fell 15-13 to Lokhanov (RUS).

Charles Colleau (FRA) won a tight final over Anatoliy Kostenko (RUS) 15-13 to win the World title.  Kunihiko Fitz-Gerald (JPN) and Andrey Gladkov (RUS) picked up the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Deary 29, Maxwell 42, Dacey 50 & Webb 73.

Day Two

Men’s Epee

Harrison Nichols was Great Britain’s only representative on day two of the Junior Championships.    He won three of his six first round matches which meant he faced World number 3, Esztergalyos (HUN) in the round of 128.  He just lost out in a tight fight, 15-14.

Georgly Bruev (RUS) beat Valerio Cuomo (ITA) 15-12 in the gold medal match to take the World title as two Hungarians picked up the bronze medals – Zsombor Banyai and Gergely Siklosi.

GB placing:  Nichols 96.

Women’s Sabre

Caroline Queroli (FRA) defended the title she won last year beating teammate Manon Brunet 15-12 in a repeat of last year’s final.  The bronze medals went to Lucia Lucarini (ITA) and Svetlana Sheveleva (RUS).

Day Three

Men’s Foil

Jai Birch (V5D1), Harry Bird (V5D1) and Alex Lloyd (V2D4) all made it through the first round of this event.  Rajan Rai (V1D4) did not do enough to progress.  Lloyd went out in the round of 128 15-5 to Dosa (HUN) as Birch beat Mora (SRB) 15-6 and Bird defeated 15-6.  Birch went on to beat Haglund (USA) 15-8 but Berg (DEN) overcame Bird 15-7.  The same Dane went on to beat Birch 15-9 in the next round.

Takahiro Shikine (JPN) took the World title 15-12 against Russia’s Andrey Matveev as Guillame Bianchi (ITA) and Kyosuki Matsuyama (JPN) settled for the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Birch 24, Bird 49, Lloyd 105 & Rai 120.

Women’s Epee

Only Lydia Stanier fenced for Britain at this event.  She won five of her six first round matches, earning a bye through the round of 128.  She then went out 15-11 to Schmidl (AUT).

Alice Clerici (ITA) took the last individual World title with a 12-6 victory over Yixuan Xiang (CHN) as Heeju Jeon (KOR) and Irina Okhotnikova (RUS) settled for the bronze medals.

GB placing: Stanier 38.

Day Four

Women’s Team Foil

Great Britain was amongst twenty-four teams in this event and beat Kazakhstan 45-21 in the round of 32.  A tight round of 16 match followed but the GB team lost 43-41 to Romania.  In the placings matches they beat Spain 45-33 and Brazil 45-38 before losing 43-38 to Germany.  They finished twelfth. 

Poland beat the USA in a captivating final 40-42 and Italy beat Romania 45-30 to take the bronze medal.

Men’s Team Sabre

Great Britain were amongst twenty-seven teams in this event beating Argentina 45-29 in the round of 32.  France proved too strong in the next round beating the GB team 45-29.  In the placings matches they beat the USA 45-39, Canada 45-39 and then Germany 45-38 to clinch ninth place.

Russia beat Italy 45-43 in a brilliant gold medal match and China eased past Korea 45-32 to take the bronze medal.

Day Five

Men’s Team Epee

Great Britain did not take part in this event but thirty-three teams battled it out for the World title.  Italy beat Hungary 45-42 to take the gold medal.  China cruised to the bronze medal beating the USA 45-34.

Women’s Team Sabre

The nineteen teams fencing in this event did not include one from Great Britain.  Russia beat China 45-42 to take the World title as USA beat Italy 45-38 to take the bronze medal.

Day Six

Women’s Team Epee

Great Britain did not take part in this event but twenty-eight teams did.  France beat Russia 45-41 to take the World title.  The USA beat Germany 25-24 in a tight bronze medal match.

Men’s Team Foil

Twenty-nine teams took part in this event including one from Great Britain.  Japan beat Italy in a great final 45-44 as Great Britain defeated the number 1 seeds, the USA on the way to winning a bronze medal.  Full report here.

Full results can be found here.