British Team achieve seven-medal haul in Germany

Sixty-one British fencers have just returned home from the Veterans World Championships in Stralsund, Germany.  The buoyant team achieved a seven-medal haul at the event and a day-by-day report follows.

Day 1

Men’s Foil Individual – Cat B

Four British fencers lined up in a field of thirty-four for this event.  Tony Bartlett (V2D4), Stephen Fox (V4D2), Graham Paul (V3D3) and Paul Wedge (V2D3) all did enough in the first round to earn byes through the round of 64.  Bartlett then beat Le Monnier (FRA) 10-4 as Paul took out Ferrario (ITA) and Wedge knocked out teammate Fox 10-3 in the next round.  Only Bartlett was able to go further into the event, beating Wedge 10-3.  Paul fell to Hirukawa (JPN) 10-8 in the round of sixteen.  Bartlett went on to beat two Italians, Tiberi 10-5 and Galvan 10-5 to make the gold medal match.  A close gold medal match followed but Takumi Oba (JPN) took the title 10-7 from Bartlett as Maurizio Galvan and Joseph Streb (USA) shared the bronze medal position.

GB placings:  Bartlett 2, Paul 12, Wedge 14 & Fox 20.

Men’s Foil Individual – Cat C

Another four GB fencers took part in this event in a field of thirty-nine.  Brian Causton (V4D2) and Michael Compton (V5D1) did enough in the first round to earn byes through the round of 64 whilst Michael Bradbury and Andras Bornemisza (V0D6) progressed to the elimination stages.  Bradbury and Bornemisza were eliminated in the 64 by Boisco (SUI) 10-8 and Pock (DEN) 10-6, respectively.  Causton made it through the 32 by beating Sessions (USA) 10-4 but Bricker (USA) took out Compton 10-6.  Bricker went on to lose Causton 10-1 in the next round before the Brit was beaten 10-2 by Filippi (ITA) in the quarterfinals.

Gari Aftandilov (RUS) won the World title beating Fabrizio Filippi (ITA) in the final as Daizo Kawaguchi (JPN) and his teammate Masashi Narita picked up the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Causton 8, Compton 17, Bradbury 35 & Bornemisza 38.

Women’s Epee Individual – Cat A

A field of forty-seven lined up for this event including another four fencers from Great Britain.  Margarette Oniye (V2D4), Denise Silk (V2D4), Margaret Tait (V1D4) and Valerie Young (V0D6) qualified for the round of 64 elimination where Oniye beat Schortmann (AUS) 10-8 and Silk beat Andersen (SWE) 10-6 but Chernova (RUS) knocked out Tait 10-4 and Poncelet (FRA) saw off Young 10-4.  British interest in the event ended in the round of 32 as Fichtel (GER) beat Oniye 10-6 and Borowa (ITA) defeated Silk 10-2.

Hildegard Strohmeyer (AUT) took the World title by beating Judit Gyiurkan (HUN) in the final. The bronze medals went to Luisa Milanoli (ITA) and Christine Tran (FRA).

GB placings:   Oniye 28, Silk 30, Tait 41 & Young 45.

Day 2

Men’s Foil Individual – Cat A

John Troiano (V5D0), Kola Abidogun (V6D0), Nick Fihosy (V2D3) and Jeffrey Kiy (V2D3) progressed through the first round of this event amongst a field of fifty-seven.  Troiano and Abidogun both received byes through the round of 64 but Fihosy fell 10-7 to Cassoret (FRA) whilst Umezawa (JPN) beat Kiy 10-3.  In the round of 32 Troiano beat Jacoby (GER) 10-6 but Cassoret defeated Abidogun by the same score.  Troiano fought hard in the next round but Blaschka (AUT) knocked him out 10-6.

Roman Christen (GER) took the World title, beating Laurent Bel (FRA) in the gold medal match as Attila Csak (HUN) and teammate Gabor Riesz had to settle for the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Troiano 9, Abidogun 18, Fihosy 37 & Kiy 41.

Women’s Epee Individual – Cat B

A field of thirty-five in this event included four from Great Britain.  Jane Clayton (V5D1), Jennifer Morris (V4D2), Caryl Oliver (V4D2) and Lynne Bornemisza (V1D5) and progressed through the first round with the first three earning byes through the round of 64. Bornemisza joined them in the 32 by beating Schwarz (AUS) 10-7.  None of them made it any further as Gardini (ITA) beat Clayton 5-4, Sopru (RUS) took out Morris 8-7, Kircheis (GER) defeated Oliver 10-6 and Lehtonen (FIN) ended Bornemisza’s day with a 10-4 victory.

The World title went to Elizabeth Kocab (USA) who beat Rasa Rimgailiene (LTU) in the final as Corinne Aubailly (FRA) and Astrid Kircheis (GER) picked up the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Clayton 17, Morris 18, Oliver 19 & Bornemisza 31.

Women’s Epee Individual – Cat C

A small field of twenty-one took part in this event including four from Britain.  Carole Seheult (V3D3) and Sylvia Brown (V3D3) did enough to earn byes through the first elimination round.  Connie Adam (V2D4) and Patricia Shepherd-Foster (V1D5) made the round of 32 which Adam progressed through with a 10-8 victory over Kitami (JPN).  Shepherd-Foster was unable to progress as she was beaten 10-9 by Hendricks (AUT).  In the round of 16 Seheult beat Lindeman (FIN) 10-9 but Brown and Adam went out 10-7 to Stelzer (AUT) and 9-4 to Demaille (FRA), respectively.  Someroja (FIN) ended Seheult’s day beating her 10-1 in the quarterfinal.

Marja-Liisa Someroja went on to win the World title beating Marie Damaille (FRA) in the final.  Brigitte Martin (FRA) and Ute Schiffmann (GER) took the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Seheult 8, Brown 10, Adam 15 & Shepherd-Foster 20.

Men’s Sabre Individual – Cat C

Thirty-two fencers lined up for this event including four from Great Britain.  Malcolm Cawton (V5D1), William Osbaldeston (V4D1), Andras Bornemisza (V4D1) and Peter Baron (V3D2) progressed to the elimination round of 32.  However, only Cawton was able to progress any further as he beat Kitano (JPN) 10-3.  Chren Ing (CZE) beat Osbaldeston 10-4, Endt (GER) defeated Bornemisza 10-7 and Nettingsmeyer (GER) saw off Baron 10-6.  Cawton went on to beat Dobrzanski (USA) 10-3, Filippi (ITA) 10-5 and Anastasov (RUS) 10-3 as he eased to the gold medal match.  There he comfortably beat Wolfgang Nettingsmeyer (GER) 10-6 as Francesco Negro (ITA) joined Aleksandar Anastasov (RUS) on the bronze medal step of the podium.

GB placings:  Cawton 1, Osbaldeston 11, Bornemisza 18 & Baron 19.

Day 3

Women’s Foil Individual – Cat A

Thirty-two fencers were involved in this event including four from Great Britain.  Gillian Worman (V3D2), Caron Hale (V3D2), Kati Archer (V2D3) and Jacqueline Hibbert (V1D4) progressed to the elimination stages.  In the 32 Worman beat Szereday (ROU) 6-5 and Hale beat teammate Archer 10-5 but Reese (GER) saw off Hibbert 10-1.  British interest in this event ended in the next round as Bonney-Millett (AUS) defeated Worman 10-6 and Zoppke-Donaldson (GER) beat Hale 10-9.

The German went on to win a bronze medal along with Lynn Botelho (USA) but the title went to Ludmila Chernova (RUS) who beat Stefanie Reese (GER) in the final.

GB placings:  Worman 13, Hale 14, Archer 20 & Hibbert 26.

Men’s Sabre Individual – Cat A

Four British fencers joined a field of fifty-seven in this event.  Duncan Rowlands (V4D1), Barry Coulter (V4D1), Peter Howes (V3D3) and Evert Van Gemeren (V0D5) progressed to the round of 64 where Rowlands beat Chudycki (POL) 10-4 but Coulter lost 10-5 to Foster (AUS), Howes was beaten 10-5 by Busi (ITA) and Gasztonyi (HUN) defeated Van Gemeren 10-4.  Rowlands went on to beat Horotan (HUN) 10-5 before losing to Becker (USA) 10-1.

Becker went on to make the gold medal match but lost to Vittoro Carrara (ITA) as Farhad Kassimov (AZE) and Oleg Stetsiv (USA) picked up the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Rowlands 13, Coulter 33, Howes 39 & Van Gemeren 55.

Men’s Sabre Individual – Cat B

There were four British fencers in this event who lined up in a field of thirty-five.  Chris Prevett (V5D1), Richard Cohen (V3D3), Carl Morris (V3D3) and Martin Toms (V1D5) made the elimination stages.  Prevett, Cohen and Morris did enough in the first round to earn byes through the round of 64 and were joined in the 32 by Toms who beat Konwinski (POL) 10-9.  Prevett then beat Bellet (FRA) 10-4, Cohen beat Ramier (FRA) 10-7 but Morris lost 10-2 to Loiseau (FRA) and Seuss (USA) defeated Toms 10-3.  In the next round Cohen fell 10-5 to Paroli (ITA) but Prevett beat Carmina (ITA) 10-7.  Prevett was then eliminated from the competition in the quarterfinals 10-5 by Seuss.

The American went on to win the silver medal as Enrico Antinoro (ITA) took the World title.  Giulio Paroli (ITA) claimed the bronze medal along with Paul Preis (GER).

GB placings:  Prevett 6, Cohen 14, Morris 24 & Toms 32.

Men’s Team Foil

Tony Bartlett, Michael Bradbury, Brian Causton, Jeffrey Kiy, John Troiano and Paul Wedge lined up for Great Britain in this event and they beat Hungary 30-19 and France 30-13 in the first round.  Ranked second for the elimination stages meant they had a bye through the round of 16, before going on to beat Australia 30-12, Germany 30-18 and Japan 30-24 to become the World Champions.  Germany secured the bronze by beating Italy 27-23 in the third-place play-off.

Women’s Team Epee

Connie Adam, Jane Clayton, Caryl Oliver, Margarette Oniye, Carole Seheult and Denise Silk formed the British team in this event.  They lost 30-18 to Germany and 30-22 to the USA in the first round, meaning they faced France in the elimination stages.  France were too strong and beat them 30-15 in the quarterfinal stages, leaving Great Britain in sixth place.  The French team went on to win the title, beating Germany 30-26 in the final.  Finland won the bronze medal by beating Hungary 30-15.

Day 4

Women’s Foil Individual – Cat B

Another four British fencers were involved in this event, joining a field of thirty-two.  Jane Clayton (V4D1), Clare Halsted (V3D3), Jennifer Morris (V3D3) and Sheila Anderson (V2D3) made it through the first round.  In the round of 32, Clayton beat Gutkovskaya (RUS) 7-5, Halsted defeated Zhdanova (RUS) 10-1 and Morris overcame Delacour (FRA) 10-7 but Anderson fell 10-6 to Ballard (AUS).  Only Clayton made it through to the quarterfinals, beating Cirillo (ITA) 10-2 as Kircheis (GER) took out Halsted 10-6 and Walters (USA) beat Morris 7-6.  The same American ended Clayton’s day with a 10-7 victory in the next round.

Jenette Straks-Faulkner (USA) became the World Champion beating Annabelle Ballard (AUS) in the final. Kaoru Amari (JPN) and Anne-Marie Walters (USA) settled for the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Clayton 7, Halsted 14, Morris 16 & Anderson 21.

Women’s Foil Individual – Cat C

Kristin Payne was Great Britain’s sole representative in a field of twenty in this event.  She started the day well, winning four of her six first round matches, earning a bye through the round of 32.  She then lost 9-6 to Gorius (GER) in the next round.

Nadejda Arskaya (RUS) won the World title beating Marie Chantal Demaille (FRA) in the gold medal match as Brigitte Greunke (GER) and Kerstin Palm (SWE) picked up the bronze medals.

GB placing:  Payne 10.

Men’s Epee Individual – Cat B

The field of sixty-four in this event included four from Great Britain.  Ralph Johnson (V5D1), William Pollard (V4D2), Jonathan Stanbury (V4D1) and Alasdair Urquhart (V2D4) progressed to the elimination stages.  In the round of 64, Johnson beat Lupiz (ARG) 10-5 and Pollard defeated Henzler (USA) 10-9 but Stanbury lost out 10-7 to Pap (HUN) and Pianca (ITA) beat Urquhart 10-5.  Johnson then beat Damas (ESP) but Pollard lost 10-6 to Pianca (ITA).  In the round of 16 Johnson progressed by beating Horvath (HUN) 10-7 but then lost 10-8 to Pianca, who had single-handedly ended the hopes of three of the GB contingent.

Giuliano Pianca went on to win the World title, beating Francois Gaudry (FRA) in the final.  Daryl Taylor (USA) and Jean Stock (BEL) were the bronze medallists.

GB placings:  Johnson 5, Pollard 22, Stanbury 34 & Urquhart 52.

Men’s Epee Individual – Cat C

The field of forty-seven in this event included four more British fencers and Robin Davenport (V4D1), William Osbaldeston (V4D2), Robert Phelps (V3D3) and Chris Green (V1D4) all made the elimination stages.  The first two earned byes through the round of 64 and were joined in the 32 by Phelps who beat Pock (DEN) 10-7.  Green did not make it through the 64, losing 10-4 to Valaer (SUI).  Both Davenport and Osbaldeston made it through the next round beating Phelps 10-4 and Fairweather (AUS) 10-5, respectively.  They went on to make the quarterfinals by beating Bucher (SUI) 9-8 and Jefferies (USA) 9-3, respectively.  Their continuation in the event was then ended as Vehrs (GER) beat Davenport 3-2 and Hewitt (USA) defeated Osbaldeston 6-0.

Arnold Messing (USA) became the World Champion beating Wolfgang Vehrs (GER) in the gold medal match as Reinhard Muenster (DEN) and Frank Hewitt (USA) shared the bronze medal spot.

GB placings:  Davenport 7, Osbaldeston 8, Phelps 24 & Green 39.

Men’s Team Sabre

Andras Bornemisza, Malcolm Cawton, Richard Cohen, Peter Howes, Chris Prevett and Duncan Rowlands lined up for Great Britain in this event as part of the ten-strong field.  In the first round they beat Poland 30-15, Japan 30-11 and Germany 30-24, leaving them ranked first for the round of 16.  A bye followed by victories over Spain (30-23) and Russia (30-25) saw them make the gold medal match.  There, they were outfought by Italy who became the World Champions with a 30-21 victory.  The USA secured the bronze medal, beating Russia 30-19 in the play-off.

Day 5

Men’s Epee Individual – Cat A

The field of eighty-four in the event was the biggest of the competition and included four British fencers.  Jon Nottingham (V4D2), Keith Barnett (V2D4), Hugh Kernohan (V4D2) and Nigel Fancourt (V2D4) progressed through the first round.  Nottingham and Kernohan had done enough to earn byes through the round of 128.  They were joined in the next round by Barnett who beat Guri Polez (ESP) 10-5 but Maichrzyk (POL) took out Fancourt 10-4.  Nottingham then beat Tivenius (SWE) 10-7 and Barnett defeated Bilani (BEL) 10-8 but Stoutland (NOR) saw off Kernohan 7-7.  Nottingham and Barnett were unable to progress further as they lost 10-8 to Stepien (USA) and 5-1 to Abduragimov (RUS) in the 32.

Sergey Simovskikh (RUS) beat Luca Magni (ITA) in the gold medal match to secure the World title as Marco Longo (ITA) and Marek Stepien (USA) won the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Nottingham 28, Barnett 31, Kernohan 37 & Fancourt 66.

Women’s Sabre Individual – Cat A

A field of twenty-nine in this event included four fencers from Great Britain.  Jane Hutchison (V5D0), Michele Narey (V3D2), Grace Coulter (V3D2) and Caroline Clancy (V1D4) all made the round of 32 with Hutchison earning a bye.  She was joined in the next round by Narey who beat Raskop (GER) 10-1 but Zoppke-Donaldson (GER) defeated Coulter and Padura (ESP) beat Clancy.  In the 16, Pepe (USA) knocked out Narey 10-6 but Hutchison progressed with a 10-7 victory over Lo Muzio (ITA).  She went on to beat Pepe (USA) 10-2 before losing 10-7 to Hanshen (GER) to secure a bronze medal.

Friederike Janshen (GER) won the event beating M. Jose Padura (ESP) in the final as Hutchison was joined in the bronze medal position by Anne Cerboni Bousquet (FRA).

GB placings:  Hutchison 3, Narey 12, Coulter 17 & Clancy 24.

Women’s Sabre Individual – Cat B

The field of twenty-four in this event included another four GB fencers.  Jennifer Morris (V4D1), Silvia Brown (V4D1), Lynne Bornemisza (V2D3) and Yvonne Walls (V3D2) all made the elimination stages – the first two earning byes through the round of 32.  Bornemisza and Walls were unable to join them in the round of 16 as they were defeated by Richter (GER) 10-4 and Goryunova (RUS) 10-8, respectively.  Morris went on to beat Rousset (FRA) 10-3 and Brown defeated Budde (GER) by the same score but then faced each other in the quarterfinals.  Morris prevailed 10-6 before losing 10-1 to Eyre (USA) in the semi-final.

Jane Eyre (USA) went on to win the World title, beating teammate Delia Turner in the final.  Another American, Jenette Starks-Faulkner shared the bronze medal position with Morris.

GB placings:  Morris 3, Brown 5, Bornemisza 13 & Walls 17.

Women’s Sabre Individual – Cat C

A field of sixteen fenced off for this title including three from Great Britain.  Patricia Shepherd-Foster (V1D4), Connie Adam (V1D3) and Sylvia Brown (V0D4) made the round of 16.  Shepherd-Foster was the only one to progress as she beat Tachibana (JPN) 10-8.  Adam was knocked out 10-3 by Martin (FRA) and Demaille (FRA) beat Brown 10-3.  In the quarterfinal Hiatt (USA) overcame Shepherd-Foster 10-6.

Brigitte Greunke (GER) took the title beating Susan Hurst (USA) in the final as Brigitte Martin (FRA) and Diane Hiatt (USA) shared the bronze medals.

GB placings:  Shepherd-Foster 7, Adam 13 & Brown 16.

Women’s Team Foil

Sheila Anderson, Kati Archer, Clare Halsted, Kristin Payne and Gillian Worman formed the British team for this event and they lined up in a field of nine.  In the first round they beat Japan 30-13 but lost 29-15 to Germany leaving them ranked fourth for the elimination stages.  A bye through the round of 16 was followed by defeat 25-17 to Russia and sixth place.  France beat the USA 30-27 to win the World title as Russia secured the bronze medal with a 24-21 victory over Italy.

Day 6

Men’s Team Epee

The British Team (Keith Barnett, Robin Davenport, Ralph Johnson, Hugh Kernohan, William Osbaldeston and Alasdair Urquhart) were part of the field of seventeen in this event.  They beat the Netherlands 30-25, Canada 30-20 and France 30-21 in the first round to earn top seed for the elimination stages.  They went on to beat Austria 30-13 before losing 24-18 to Germany.

The Germans went on to win the World title by beating Italy 26-23 in the gold medal match as Russia just beat Sweden 18-17 to steal the bronze medal.

Women’s Team Sabre

Silvia Brown, Sylvia Brown, Jane Hutchison, Jennifer Morris, Michele Narey and Patricia Shepherd-Foster lined up for Great Britain in the final event of the competition in a small field of five.  In the seeding poule unique, they beat the USA 30-28 and Japan 30-26 but lost 30-16 to Germany and 30-24 to France, leaving them ranked third.  They then faced a bronze play off match against Japan winning 30-19 to secure the medal.  Germany beat the USA 30-27 in the gold play off match to secure the last World title of the event leaving USA with the silver.

Full results for all events are available here.