Report from foil World Cups in Tokyo and St Maur 

The 2014 senior international season continued at the weekend with a Men’s Foil World Cup in Tokyo, Japan and a Women’s Foil World Cup in St Maur, France.

Men’s Foil World Cup, Tokyo

Nine British men joined a field of 163 athletes in Japan.  After two waves of first round poules Kristjan Archer (V5D1), Laurence Halsted (V3D3), Richard Kruse (V5D1), Marcus Mepstead (V3D3), Ben Peggs (V4D2) and Alex Tofalides (V3D3) made the cut.  Rhys Melia (V2D4) and Amol Rattan (V2D4) did not whilst James Davis, by virtue of his top 16 world ranking automatically qualified for the round of 64.

Archer, Kruse and Peggs performed well enough in the poules to earn byes through the first of three preliminary knockout fights.  Halsted’s 15-1 victory over Shimbo (BRA) meant he joined them there but Mepstead was knocked out 6-5 by Sedov (RUS) and Surwillo (POL) beat Tofalides 15-10.  Archer progressed to the second day with a 15-8 victory over Rzadkowski (POL) and was joined by Kruse who beat Braun (GER) 15-8 and Peggs who beat Abe (JPN) 15-9.  Halsted did not make the round of 64 after a 15-11 loss to Nista (ITA).

Only Kruse was able to make it through to the round of 64 with an impressive 15-12 victory over Le Pechoux (FRA) as Cheung (HKG) beat Archer 15-4, Poscharnig (AUT) defeated Davis 15-10 and Peggs lost 15-13 to Mertine (FRA).  Kruse was unable to make it further than the round of 32 as the giant Choupenitch (CZE) beat him 15-12.

Race Imboden (USA) beat Dmitry Rigne (RUS) 15-10 to take the gold medal whilst Andrea Cassara (ITA) and Enzo Lefort (FRA) took the bronze medals.

Great Britain was one of eighteen teams to compete on Sunday.  A bye through the incomplete round of 32 saw them face Japan to make the quarterfinals.  The Japanese team were too strong and progressed with a 45-37 victory.  Great Britain went on the beat Austria (45-44), Egypt (45-34) and Ukraine (45-28) to finish ninth.  Russia took the gold medal beating France 45-43.  Korea beat the USA 40-39 for the bronze medal.

GB Individual Placings:  Kruse 24^th, Davis 34^th, Archer 48^th, Peggs 53^rd, Halsted 87^th, Tofalides 101^st, Mepstead 110^th, Melia 124^th & Rattan 128^th.

Full individual results are here.

Full team results are here.

Women’s Foil World Cup, St Maur

Nine British fencers formed part of the 148-strong field in France at the weekend.  Yvonne Chart (V1D5), Ruth Clarke (V0D6), Chloe Dickson (V1D5) and Katie Smith (V0D6) did not make the first round cut but Catherine Cook (V3D3), Georgia Hannay (V3D3), Lisa McKenzie (V2D4), Natalia Sheppard (V4D2) and Dominique Szokolovics (V3D3) did. 

Sheppard’s first round performance earned her a bye through the first of the two preliminary knockout fights.  Cook beat Cheung (HKG) 15-14 and McKenzie defeated Lupkovics (HUN) 15-11 to join her in the second preliminary.  Nattan (HUN) knocked out Hannay 15-4 and Shanaeva (RUS) ended Szokolovics’ day with a 15-11 victory.  Only Sheppard made the second day beating teammate, McKenzie 15-5 as Cook fell to a 15-10 loss against H. M. Oh (KOR). 

In the round of 64 Sheppard fell behind against Kusano (JPN) before going into the third period of the fight and despite a late comeback went out 11-9.

Arianna Errigo (ITA) made it back-to-back World Cup victories beating Lee Kiefer (USA) 15-8 to take the gold medal.  Chiara Cini (ITA) and Inna Deriglazova (RUS) had to settle for bronze medals.

Great Britain did not enter the team event as fifteen teams fought for gold on the last day of the event.  Russia beat Italy 45-44 to take the title as France beat Korea 41-31 for the bronze.

GB Individual Placings:  Sheppard 51^st, Cook 89^th, McKenzie 95^th, Szokolovics 101^st, Hannay 107^th, Dickson 124^th, Chart 134^th, Smith 142^nd & Clarke 146^th.

Full individual results are here.

Full team results are here.

The 2014/15 senior season continues this weekend with a Women’s Epee World Cup in Xuzhou, China and a Men’s Epee World Cup in Tallin, Estonia.