Colorado Springs, Colo., Jan. 28-30—USA fencers had a near sweep with three golds and a silver at the Riposta Cup Cadet Saber World Cup in Bucharest, Romania. The event took place at the Polyvalent Hall with 200 and 192 individual men and women participating as well as 39 men’s and 30 women’s teams.
Winning the gold in individual cadet men’s saber, Matthew Linsky (Manhattan Fencing Center) took the title by defeating France’s Lucas Guilley in the final, 15-11, and beating Egypt’s Ahmed Hesham in the semifinals, 15-11.
USA top-eight men’s finishers included Cody Ji (5, Nellya Fencers), William Morrill (7, Fencers Club Inc.) and Rodrigo Fernandez (8, Nellya Fencers). Other USA men’s fencer rankings included Gian Dhingra (10, Southern California Fencing Academy), Jordan Silberzweig (12, Manhattan Fencing Center), Taylor Chon (19, Globus Fencing Academy), Ziyi Yang (20, Cardinal Fencing Club), Gabriel McCarthy (26, Tim Morehouse Fencing Club), Shaun Kim (27, Tim Morehouse Fencing Club), Gabriel Babayev (33, Stamford Fencing Center, LLC), Andrei Nazlymov (36, Nazlymov Fencing Foundation), Connor Liang (37, Laguna Fencing Center), Nicholas Pope (40, Stoccata Fencing Academy & Club), Ansh Ghayalod (53, Durkan Fencing Academy), Hananiah So (60, Manhattan Fencing Center), Leonid Kotov (70, Salt City Swords Fencing Club), Matthew Chan (78, Forward Fencing Academy), Zachary Tong (90, Nellya Fencers) and William Xu (94, Cardinal Fencing Club).
In individual cadet women’s saber, Veronica Mika (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy) won the silver medal, with Hungary’s Anna Spiesz winning the gold, 15-6. Mika defeated Italy’s Elisabetta Borrelli in the semifinals, 15-9, as well as her teammate, Ellen Xu (5, Spartak), in the quarterfinals, 15-11.
Overall USA results in individual cadet women’s saber included Charmaine Andres (14, South Bay Fencing Academy), Katherine Andres (19, South Bay Fencing Academy), Amy Lu (24, Capital Fencing Academy), Chase Callahan (25, South Bay Fencing Academy), Reya Ghayalod (26, Durkan Fencing Academy), Alexandra Cody (28, Oregon Fencing Alliance), Chloe Szeto (29, Zeta Fencing), Rachel Buhay (30, Fencing Academy of Denver), Janna Freedman (34, South Bay Fencing Academy), Victoria Gorman (36, Zeta Fencing), Nisha Hild (51, Zeta Fencing), Aria Bevacqua (53T, Manhattan Fencing Center), Elaine Lu (56, Zeta Fencing), Amanda Li (77T, Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy), Audrey Lin (77T, Globus Fencing Academy), Irene Jung (119, Premier Fencing Academy), Mina Chioldi (157, Manhattan Fencing Center) and Mica Elnatan (182, Alle Fencing Club).
In cadet men’s team saber, Team USA 1 (Gian Dhingra, William Morrill, Taylor Chon, Ziyi Yang) won gold, defeating Romania in the final, 45-29. Team USA 3 (Rodrigo Fernandez, Leonid Kotov, Andrei Nazlymov, Nicholas Pope) finished in sixth place and Team USA 2 (Ansh Ghayalod, Shaun Kim, Gabriel McCarthy, Zachary Tong) finished in 14th place.
In cadet women’s team saber, Team USA 1 (Charmaine Andres, Katherine Andres, Janna Freedman, Veronica Mika) also took gold, winning against Hungary, 45-43. Team USA 1 beat Team USA 3 (4, Mina Chioldi, Victoria Gorman, Elaine Lu, Ellen Xu) in the semifinals, 45-41, and Turkey then took the bronze medal over Team USA 3, 45-43. Team USA 2 (Reya Ghayalod, Nisha Hild, Audrey Lin, Chloe Szeto) took fifth place, Team USA 4 (Aria Bevacqua, Rachel Buhay, Amy Lu) took seventh place and Team USA 5 (Alexandra Cody, Mica Alnatan, Irene Jung) took eighth place.
Click here for additional USA Fencing results from around the world posted on the FIE website, including the recent Qatar Epee Grand Prix and Plovdiv Women’s Saber World Cup.
