USA Fencing

PLOVDIV, Bulgaria —"The Star-Spangled Banner" was on repeat late Thursday night inside Hall 6 of the International Fair Plovdiv as both USA Foil squads walked away with team gold.

For the first time since team events were added to Junior & Cadet Worlds in 1998, Team USA has two Junior Foil Team world champions in the same year.

And it’s the first time since 2001 that Team USA went double team gold in any weapon. (That year, it was our Saber teams’ turn to finish with a matching set.)

That was part of a history-making Thursday at the 2023 Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in Bulgaria, where the Foil teams wrapped up their stay in Plovdiv with an exclamation point.

Team USA has been successful in the Junior Foil team event several times before. The Junior men won gold in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2017. The women won it all in 2009, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

But never before had the two lined up in the same year — until now.

Congrats go out to the quartet of Lauren Scruggs (Peter Westbrook Foundation, Harvard University), Zander Rhodes (V Fencing Club, Columbia University), Ryanne Leslie (V Fencing Club, PISTE Fencing Academy) and Emily Jing (Star Fencing Academy).

Their fabulous fencing secured Team USA’s fifth world championship in the event and a gold medal repeat.

Last year in Dubai, the team of Rhodes, Scruggs, Maia Weintraub and Rachael Kim left as world champions.

“Honestly, it feels really great,” Rhodes says. “And I've loved every single one of my teammates that I've been on a team with, and they've always been there to support me and I'm really happy for that.”

We also must tip our caps to the remarkable career of Scruggs, who ends her Junior career with a total of nine medals at Junior & Cadet Worlds: six golds, two silvers and one bronze.

Scruggs was the anchor in the gold medal bout, meaning she fenced the ninth and final round. She stepped onto the strip with a 39-34 lead and one mission: get to 45 touches before her opponent.

That was no problem for the experienced Scruggs, who a couple of weeks earlier became an NCAA champion.

“I just treat it like a five-touch bout,” Scruggs says. “Thankfully, the setup bout is pretty good, thanks to Zander, so I just have to take it home and try not to get too caught up in my head and what’s going on.”

This year, Scruggs and Rhodes were joined on the team by a pair of newcomers to Junior & Cadet Worlds. The first was Leslie, who considered today’s gold medal a strong rebound from her 78th place finish in the individual event.

“I feel amazing,” Leslie says. “I mean, considering my individual results, I was a little bit disappointed at first. But I knew I had to come back and fight hard for the team. I think I just took it as: life moves on. You’ve just got to keep on pushing forward.”

The fourth on the team was Jing, who goes home with a gold in Junior Team, a bronze in Cadet individual and a 6th place finish in Junior individual. Not bad for age 15.

“Emily fenced so well,” Zander says. “She had three days back to back, which is super hard to do and super impressive with what she did. She got her first medal in Cadets yesterday, so we're really excited.”

The team also had some strong sentiments for their coach, Ralf Bissdorf. Throughout the day, Bissdorf could be seen leaping out of his seat to celebrate critical touches.

“Yeah, I really liked the energy Ralf brings to the event,” Scruggs says. “He gets really lively and into it. We just love Ralf, and he's been great with the team.”

On the men’s side, the lineup was Samarth Kumbla (Silicon Valley Fencing), Brandon Li (Princeton University, Marx Fencing Academy), Andrew Chen (Bluegrass Fencers' Club) and Daniel Zhang (Star Fencing Academy) — coached by Greg Massialas.

The squad earned Team USA its sixth Junior Men’s Foil Team gold and first since 2017, when the quartet of Nick Itkin OLY, Sidarth Kumbla, Samuel Moelis and Geoffrey Tourette won the world title.

It was something of an upset that the men even advanced to the gold medal match — but only because of their rough start in the semifinals against Japan. The team trailed after each of the first seven rounds. Their largest deficit was 13 — down 25-12 after the fifth leg.

Then the comeback started. Li got things going in the sixth leg, outscoring his opponent 10-5. Then it was Zhang’s turn in the seventh, and he landed 10 touches to his opponent’s 3. Li returned once more and gave Team USA its first lead, ending the eighth leg 40-37. When Kumbla came on as anchor in the final leg, he only needed to score five touches before his opponent could score eight.

At the moment when Kumbla scored that 45th touch for Team USA, his teammates ran to the strip to embrace him with hugs and high fives.

In the finals against Italy, the men led most of the way but not comfortably until Zhang stepped up in the seventh leg and put on a clinic, landing some audacious and creative touches to outscore his opponent 5-1 and give Team USA a healthy 35-29 lead. Li and Kumbla held serve and brought Team USA the gold, causing another eruption of emotion.

Junior Women’s Foil — Team Event

• Gold: Team USA
  • Lauren Scruggs
    • Peter Westbrook Foundation, Harvard University
    • Coach: Sean McClain
  • Zander Rhodes
    • V Fencing Club, Columbia University
    • Coaches: Serge Vashkevich, Vladimir Lyshkovski
  • Ryanne Leslie
    • V Fencing Club, PISTE Fencing Academy
    • Coaches: Serge Vashkevich, Vladimir Lyshkovski
  • Emily Jing
    • Star Fencing Academy
    • Coaches: Kai Zhao, Tamer Tahoun, Shuang Meng

Junior Men’s Foil — Team Event

• Gold: Team USA
  • Samarth Kumbla
    • Silicon Valley Fencing
    • Coaches: Aleksei Muruhin, Andre Raisch, Vil Nagimov
  • Brandon Li
    • Princeton University, Marx Fencing Academy
    • Coach: Ralf Bissdorf
  • Andrew Chen
    • Bluegrass Fencers' Club
    • Coach: Amgad Khazbak
  • Daniel Zhang
    • Star Fencing Academy
    • Coaches: Kai Zhao, Tamer Tahoun, Shuang Meng

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