(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.) upset 2010 World Championship bronze medalist Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) on Friday at the Athens Saber World Cup in Greece en route to earning his first top-32 finish of the season.
A 12th place finisher at the 2010 Senior Worlds, Homer was ranked 80th after splitting his bouts 3-3 in the pools on Thursday and needed two preliminary table wins to qualify for the table of 64 on Friday.
After defeating U.S. teammate Aleksander Ochocki (Clark, N.J.), 15-14, and Yewei Xiao (CHN), 15-10, Homer was one of five Americans to advance to the table of 64.
Homer opened competition on Friday with a first-round victory over fifth-seeded Reshetnikov, 15-14.
In the table of 32, however, Homer lost his bout against Bolade Apithy (FRA), 15-8, to place 31st overall while Apithy went on to win bronze.
Homer was the only member of Team USA to advance to the table of 32, but four of his teammates each placed in the top 64.
Beijing Olympic silver medalists Tim Morehouse and James Williams, both of New York City, placed 51st and 64th, respectively.
Morehouse won four of six bouts in the pools on Thursday and earned a 15-14 victory over Mikheil Mardaleishvili (GEO) in the preliminary table of 128. In the next round, Morehouse defeated Mihail Etropolski (Floral Park, N.Y.), 15-12. On Friday, however, Morehouse lost his table of 64 bout to Benedikt Wagner (GER), 15-11.
Williams won two of his five pool bouts and missed defeating Apithy in the pools by a single touch on Thursday and was ranked 91st going into the table of 128. Williams defeated Yevgeniy Frolov (KAZ), 15-10, and Sandro Bazadze (GEO), 15-11, to qualify for competition on Friday. Williams’s 63rd seed in the draw matched him against 2009 World Champion Nicolas Limbach (GER) in the table of 64 and Limbach took the win, 15-8, en route to winning the silver medal.
Two-time Senior World Team member Benjamin Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.) placed 61st in Athens. Igoe won three of his six pool bouts on Thursday and defeated Max Stearns (CAN), 15-11, and 2009 Junior World medalist Boris Savich (RUS), 15-12, in the preliminary tables. On Friday, Igoe drew 2010 World Champion Woo-Young Won (KOR) in the table of 64 and lost the bout, 15-10, to place 61st.
Jeff Spear (Wyantskill, N.Y.) placed just behind Igoe in 62nd. Spear won three of his six pool bouts and defeated Fernando Casares (ESP), 15-13, and Nikolai Nikolic (AUT), 15-5, in the preliminary tables. In the table of 64, Spear lost his bout to 2005 World medalist Alexey Yakimenko (RUS), 15-6.
Competition will conclude on Saturday when Homer, Igoe, Morehouse and Williams will participate in the team tournament.
Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:
Athens Saber Individual World Cup
1. Aron Szilagyi (HUN)
2. Nicolas Limbach (GER)
3. Bolade Apithy (FRA)
3. Rares Dumitrescu (ROU)
5. Alexey Yakimenko (RUS)
6. Aldo Montano (ITA)
7. Luigi Tarantino (ITA)
8. Richard Huebers (GER)
31. Daryl Homer (New York City, N.Y.)
51. Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.)
61. Benjamin Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.)
62. Jeff Spear (Wyantskill, N.Y.)
64. James Williams (New York City, N.Y.)
69. Avery Zuck (Portland, Ore.)
83. Andrew Fischl (Huntington, N.Y.)
88. Luther Clement (New York City, N.Y.)
91. Mihail Etropolski (Floral Park, N.Y.)
98. Daniel Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.)
111. Aleksander Ochocki (Clark, N.J.)
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