Rio Olympic Qualification began with World Cups in all six weapons
This weekend saw the beginning of qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and a schedule that included World Cups in all six weapons.
Men’s Epee – Paris
An enormous field of three hundred and twenty-two fencers took part in this event including eight from Great Britain. Gregory Allen (V2D4), Tomas Curran Jones (V4D2), Philip Marsh (V2D4), Nicholas Perry (V3D2) and Gareth Thomas (V3D3) all qualified for the preliminary knockout stage of the tournament but Christopher Hay (V0D6), Paul Sanchez-Lethem (V2D4) and Alexander Upcraft (V0D6) missed the cut. A three-stage preliminary knockout followed with Curran Jones doing enough to earn a bye through the first fight. He was joined in the second stage by Philip Marsh who beat the experienced Borel (FRA) 15-11 and Perry who saw off Bonnaire (FRA) 15-12 but Reizlin (UKR) knocked out Allen 15-10 and Giannotte (LUX) beat Thomas 15-13. All three remaining British fencers progressed to the third stage of the preliminary matches as Curran Jones defeated Allika (EST) 15-11, Marsh overcame Niggeler (SUI) 15-13 and Perry beat Kurbanov (KAZ) 15-13. British interest in the event ended in the next stage as Casado defeated Curran Jones 15-13, Ramirez (USA) knocked out Marsh 15-5 and Bargues (ESP) beat Perry 15-12.
Alexander Blaszyck (FRA) beat Gabor Boczko (HUN) 15-9 to take the gold medal as Paolo Pizzo (ITA) and Igor Tourchine (RUS) secured the bronze medals.
The thirty-six entries into the team event did not include one from Great Britain. France went on to claim the title on home soil, beating Germany 33-31. Russia beat Poland 45-25 to claim the bronze medal.
GB individual placings: Curran Jones 82nd, Perry 85th, Marsh 95th, Thomas 122nd, Allen 225th, Sanchez-Lethem 236th, Upcraft 308th & Hay 309th.
Click here for full results.
Women’s Epee – Johannesburg
Corinna Lawrence was Great Britain’s sole representative in a field of one hundred and sixty-five fencers in Johannesburg, South Africa. She managed to win three of her six first round fights which was enough to make the cut. She went on to beat Ohashi (JPN) 15-10 and then Knapik-Miazga (POL) 15-10 to make the second day and the round of 64. There, she came up against world number 8, Heidemann (GER) and narrowly lost, 15-14.
Yujie Sun (CHN) took the title beating Violetta Kolobova (RUS) 15-6 in the final. The bronze medals went to Injeong Choi (KOR) and Olga Kochneva (RUS).
Great Britain did not take part in the team event as twenty-two teams fought on day three of the event. China took the title beating Romania 26-24 in the gold medal match. France beat Italy 45-41 to claim the bronze medal.
GB individual placings: Lawrence 60th.
Click here for full individual results.
Click here for full team results.
Men’s Foil – St. Petersburg
One hundred and ninety-eight fencers took part in this event including seven from Great Britain. James Davis had a bye through to the round of 64 as Laurence Halsted (V4D1), Richard Kruse (V5D1), Marcus Mepstead (V4D2), Ben Peggs (V5D1), Amol Rattan (V3D3) and Alex Tofalides (V3D3) all did enough to make the first round cut. Halsted, Kruse and Peggs success in their first round matches earned them byes through the first of two preliminary qualifiers and they were joined in the next round by Mepstead who beat Change (USA) 15-6. However, Rattan fell 15-9 to Menkuer (TUR) and Pivovarov (RUS) just beat Tofalides 15-14. In the second preliminary Halsted steam-rolled past Lahunou (BLR) 15-3 as both Kruse and Mepstead comfortably beat their opponents – Ayad (EGY) 15-6 and Khovansky (RUS) 15-8, respectively.
In the round of 64 Davis demolished Menkuer (TUR) 15-2, Halsted squeezed past Janda (POL) 15-14, Kruse eased past Pogrebnyak (UKR) 15-6 but Ota (JPN) ended Mepstead’s individual event with a 15-12 victory. In a repeat of the recent Beazley British Championship gold medal match, Davis and Kruse faced each other in the round of 32. It was Kruse again, who was the victor, 15-13. Halsted also progressed with an impressive 15-9 victory over Mertine (FRA). Neither Halsted nor Kruse could progress any further as they lost to the eventual finalists – Rigine (RUS) 15-7 and Cassara (ITA) 15-8, respectively.
In the final Rigine beat Cassara 15-10 as the bronze medals went to Danielle Garozzo (ITA) and Vincent Simon (FRA).
In the team event, Great Britain (Davis, Halsted, Kruse and Mepstead) was one of twenty-three entries and received a bye through the incomplete round of 32. They then lost a desperately close match with the Germans, 45-44. In the placings matches, Great Britain lost 45-43 to Austria before beating Ukraine 45-38 and Egypt 45-35 to finish 13th. Russia beat China 45-30 to secure the title as Italy finished third beating France 45-43 in the bronze medal match.
GB individual placings: Kruse 14th, Halsted 15th, Davis 19th, Mepstead 57th, Peggs 67th, Rattan 112th & Tofalides 128th.
Women’s Foil – Tauberbischofsheim
Six British fencers were part of the field of one hundred and sixty-eight fencers at this event in one of the World’s most famous fencing locations, Tauberbischofsheim. Catherine Cook (V0D6), Ruth Clarke (V1D5), Chloe Dickson (V0D6) and Katie Smith (V0D6) did not make it through the first round but Lisa McKenzie (V3D3) and Natalia Sheppard (V3D3) did enough to make the two-stage preliminary qualifiers. McKenzie went on to beat Eun Kim (KOR) 15-13 before losing to Gebet (FRA) 15-8 and Sheppard easily beat Werner (GER) 15-1 but then lost 15-10 to Blaze (FRA). This meant no British involvement in the second day of the competition.
Elisa Di Francisca (ITA) beat her teammate Arianna Errigo to take the gold medal and a third Italian fencer, Valentina Vezzali was joined on the bronze step of the podium by Inna Deriglazova (RUS).
The twenty entries to the team event did not include one from Great Britain. Russia beat Italy 45-34 to claim the title as Korea beat Germany 45-33 for the bronze medal.
GB individual placings: Sheppard 82nd, McKenzie 87th, Clarke 138th, Cook 157th, Dickson 160th & Smith 163rd.
Men’s Sabre – Madrid
Twelve British fencers formed part of the field of one hundred and ninety-seven athletes in Spain. Soji Aiyenuro (V2D4), Michael Clarke (V2D4), Alex Crutchett (V4D2), Jacob Gander-Compton (V3D3), James Honeybone (V6D0), Thomas Mottershead (V2D4), Patrick Jennings (V2D4), Brynmor Saunders (V3D3) and Jonathan Webb (V3D3) did enough to progress past the first round. Curtis Miller (V1D5), James Potter (V1D5) and Kirk Slankard (V1D5) did not. Honeybone’s first round efforts ensured that he received a bye through to the round of 64. None of the remaining British fencers was able to progress as Oh (KOR) beat Aiyenuro 15-4, Escudero (ESP) saw off Clarke 15-9, Crutchett fell 15-13 to Medard (FRA), Gemany’s Kindler beat Gander-Compton 15-4 as his teammate Koch defeated Mottershead 15-8, Jennings fell 15-4 to Iancu (ROU), Foschini (ITA) beat Saunders 15-8 and Webb had to abandon his match with Adel (EGY).
In the round of 64, Honeybone was no match for Oh (KOR), who beat him 15-5. It was another Korean who took the title. Bongil Gu beat Kamil Ibragimov (RUS) 15-13 in a tight final. Tiberiu Dolniceanu (ROU) and Max Hartung (GER) went home with the bronze medals.
Great Britain (Aiyenuro, Crutchett, Honeybone and Webb) took part in the team event in a field of twenty-two entries. They faced Egypt in the round of 32 and narrowly lost 45-44 to finish nineteenth. Hungary beat Italy 45-40 to claim the gold medal as Germany beat China 45-24 for the bronze.
GB individual placings: Honeybone 38th, Crutchett 101st, Gander-Compton 116th, Saunders 125th, Webb 128th, Mottershead 142nd, Clarke 158th, Aiyenuro 159th, Miller 164th & Slankard 170th.
Women’s Sabre – Beijing
Katherine Kempe was Great Britain’s only competitor in this event in a field of one hundred and seventy-six. She won four of her six first round matches which was enough to make the preliminary knockout stage where she beat Cho (KOR) 15-12 before losing 15-13 to Shao (CHN) to finish 83rd.
Sofyia Velikaya (RUS) beat Aleksandra Socha (POL) in the final as Olga Kharlan (UKR) and Mariel Zagunis (USA) secured the bronze medals.
Great Britain was not one of the twenty-two entries into the team event. France took the title beating Ukraine 45-40 in the final. The USA beat Russia 45-32 to claim the bronze medal.
The 2014/15 senior season continues on 15th May with a foil Grand Prix in Shanghai.
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