(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Competing as the final athlete to represent the U.S. Paralympic Fencing Team in London, first-time Paralympian Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.) was eliminated in the pools of the Category B men’s saber event on Thursday.
Brinson kept his first two bouts in the pools close, but lost by 5-3 scores to both Adrian Castro (POL) and 2011 Wheelchair World medalist Alexandr Kurzin (RUS).
In the third round, Brinson was outscored, 5-0, by Panagiotis Triantafyllou (GRE).
With his most difficult opponent of the day slated for the final bout, Brinson lost to 2010 Wheelchair World Champion Laurent Francois (FRA), 5-1, to finish 14th.
Although he did not advance to the direct elimination table, Brinson spoke positively about his experience at the Games and said he’s looking forward to Rio.
"Staying in the Village and meeting people from all around the world and coming through the tunnel (on to the field of play) was amazing,” Brinson said. "I'm still continuing to reach my potential. I'll continue to fight."
Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:
Men’s Category A Saber
1. Yijun Chen (CHN)
2. Jianquan Tian (CHN)
3. Wing Kin Chan (HKG)
4. Radoslaw Stanczuk (POL)
5. Gerasimos Pylarinos (GRE)
6. Sergey Frolov (RUS)
7. Meng Chai Cheong (HKG)
8. Moez El Assine (FRA)
Men’s Category B Saber
1. Grzegorz Pluta (POL)
2. Marc-Andre Cratere (FRA)
3. Alessio Sarri (ITA)
4. Marat Yusupov (RUS)
5. Francois Laurent (FRA)
6. Anton Datsko (UKR)
7. Pierre Mainville (CAN)
8. Panagiotis Triantafyllou (GRE)
14. Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.)
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