Sharjah World Cup – the third qualifying competition for the Paralympic Games Tokyo2020, And Junior World Championships.

Three in a Row for Gilliver

Piers Gilliver made it three in a row in the Cat A Men’s Epeebeating old adversary, Gang Sun 15-10 in the final. Piers started the day with number 1 ranking in the tableau of 64 after poules. He beat Betti 15-6 in the L32, Nalewajek 15-10 in the L16, Chen 15-11 in the L8, and Al Madhkoori 15-6 in the semi final.

The added bonus was a silver medal in the Sabre, beaten 15-8by Ntounis in the final, but not before Piers had beaten Dabrowski 15-3 in the last 32, Pellegrini 15-6 in the last 16, El Assine 15-10 in the L8 and Giordan 15-10 in the semi

Dimitri with his dad, Najib

Dimitri gave another display of consistency, but also had the feeling of Déjà vu. In the Men’s Cat B Foil he was ranked 1 in the Tableau of 32 and progressed through the DE’s without being troubled. In the final he met Daoling Hu of China. The lead changed hands several times, Dimitri losing 15-14 and having to settle for the Silver medal. The following day he again breezed through the poules, and took his DE’s in his stride. However, in the final he met Daolong Hu for the second day running and the final had the same outcome, with Dimitri having to settle for Silver yet again.

The rest of the GB fencers turned in some very creditable performances. Ollie and Mat both fenced well in the Men’s Cat A Epee and were ranked 15th and 16th respectively after poules. In the last 32 they both put up a good show against much higher ranked opposition.

In Women’s Cat B Epee Justine Moore returned to competitive fencing after an absence of 7 years, and beat 3 opponents in the poules and was ranked 12th in the tableau of 32. She beat Santos of Brazil 15-5 in the L32, and lost 15-14 to Anri Sakurai, the eventual bronze medalist in the L16.

In the Cat A Epee Gemma Collis-McCann was well positioned after poules and in the L32 beat Afonina of Russia, 15-12. In the L16 she then beat Mandryk of Ukraine 15-9, but went out 15-11 to Yu of Hong Kong in the L8.

Junior World Championships

In the Junior World Championships Josh Waddell blew away the opposition in the poules of the Men’s U17 Foil, and was ranked 1 in the tableau of 16. He breezed through the DE’s but lost 15-12 in the final to Schrader of Germany. In the Men’s Epee it was a similar story. Josh bossed the poulesbeing ranked 1 in the tableau of 16. He again met little resistance in the DE’s and again met Schrader in the final. This time the result was reversed, Josh winning the final 15-6.

In the U23 Foil competition Josh was ranked 8 in the tableau of 32. He got a bye in the L32, and then in the L16 beat Ryan Rousell of Canada 15-10. In the L8 Josh lost 15-8 to the Russian, Gavrilenkov.

In the Epee after poules Josh was ranked 3 in the tableau of 32. In the L16 he beat Haupt of Germany 15-11, but in the L8 lost to Maurice Schmidt of Germany 15-9.

In the Epee Team Event GB were ranked 13th, and had to fight all day for a decent end result. They beat Italy 45-25 in the first match, then lost to Iraq 45-31. Their third match was against Ukraine which GB won 45-32. The final match was against France to decide 5th and 6th placings. GB won 45-44 and with a final place of 5th.

Here is Josh Waddell with his coach Ritrawe Sutera

World Cup, Sao Paulo – the fifth qualification competition for Tokyo 2020

Piers and Dimitri deliver again

Piers and Dimitri had a very successful trip to Sao Paolo, with Dimitri taking gold in both the Cat B foil and epee competitions, and Piers taking gold in the Cat A epee and bronze in the sabre.

In the Cat A sabre Piers had 5 wins and no losses, and was ranked 2 in the tableau of 32, had a bye in that round and beat Citerne of France 15-3 in the L16. In the L8 he met and beat Shaburov of Russia 15-12. In the semi finals Piers lost to Demchuk of Ukraine 15-11.

Piers receiving his bronze medal from Udo Ziegler (IWAS)

In the Cat B foil Dimitri had 4 wins and no losses in the poules and was ranked 2 in the tableau of 32. He had a bye in the L32 and met and beat the Iraqi Ali Amar 15-3 in the L16. In the L8 he beat the Italian Cima 15-6, and in the semi-final he beat Khamatshin of Russia and in the final he met and beat Kamalov of Russia 15-5.

Dimitri with his first gold medal.

In the Cat B Epee poules Dimitri had a shocker by his standards with just 3 wins and 3 losses. He was ranked 15^th in the tableau of 32 with Shah Rashid one place below him also with 3 wins and 3 losses. In the L32 Dimitri beat Massarutti 15-10, Shah lost to Pluta 15-6. In the L16 Dimitri beat his nemesis Ali Amar 15-12 and progressed to the L8 where he met Kurzin of Russia and won 15-4. In the semi-final Dimitri beat his old friend Sasha Kuzyukov of Russia 15-9 and in the final – Oleg Naumenko of Ukraine 15-6.

Dimitri getting his second gold medal from Charmaine Hooper CEO of IWAS

Men’s Cat A epee saw Piers take 5 wins and no losses in his poules and was ranked 3 in the tableau of 64 receiving a bye to the L32 where he met Canadian, Ryan Rousell. A victory 15-4 saw him progress to the L16 where he met Noble of France, winning 15-5. In the L8 he beat the Italian Lambertini 15-8, and in the semi-final he beat Yusupov of Russia with the same score. In the final Piers defeated Schmidt of Germany 15-4.

Piers getting his gold medal.

In the team epee GB beat Italy 45-41, lost to Iraq 45-43, beat Brazil 45-29 and beat Ukraine 45-43 to finish 5^th.

Other notable performances came from Gemma Collis-McCann who fenced well in the women’s Cat A sabre, beating Soares of Brazil in the L32 and taking the current world number 1, Morkvych to 15-10 in the L16 match.

Mat Campbell-Hill also fenced well in the Cat A epee, winning 4 poule matches and taking some interesting scalps along the way. Ollie Lam-Watson had a consistent competition in both foil and epee, winning 3 poule matches and being competitive in his DE’s.

Shah Rashid was unlucky to catch a referee on a bad day in the sabre. Shah once again fenced consistently.

One sad note from this competition was the Greek coach who collapsed on the piste after complaining vehemently about the refereeing. He was taken to hospital with a suspected heart attack and kept in hospital overnight.