World Ranking Boost for Londoner

Londoner, Richard Kruse, 32, boosted his world ranking by securing the silver medal at the Turin Men’s Foil Grand Prix on Sunday.  He faced Jianfei Ma (CHN) in the final and despite keeping it close during the first two periods, the Chinese fencer pulled away in the final three minutes to take the title with a 15-11 victory.

Speaking straight after the medal ceremony Kruse said; “The standard of men’s foil is very high at the moment.  I had lots of close fights and I was close to winning but I’m pleased with my performances to get second place.”

Kruse had to beat two teammates on his way to the podium.  In the round of 16 he just beat Marcus Mepstead, 9-8 before taking out James Davis, 15-13, in the quarterfinals.  He followed that with a 15-10 semi-final victory over Kwanghyun Lee (KOR).

British Fencing’s Performance Director, Alex Newton was happy with the results in Italy and said; “I am delighted with all of the performances from the three athletes today.  It is great news that we had three fencers in the top sixteen and it shows the strength of the individuals making up the current foil team.”

Great Britain are targeting qualifying a men’s foil team for Rio 2016 and are currently in a tight battle which looks like it’s going down to the wire.  Should they not succeed, Kruse’s result today puts him contention for individual qualification.