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Kelsey Reaches Top 8 in Paris

11/08/2010, 5:36am CST

By No Author

For Immediate Release

8 November 2010

Kelsey Reaches Top Eight at Worlds

US Fencers continued to turn in fantastic results today at the 2010 World Fencing Championships in Paris, France. Seth Kelsey (Brush Prairie, Wash.) reached the top eight in the extraordinarily deep and talented Men’s Epee field, Ben Bratton (New York, N.Y.) reached the top 16, and Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) reached a career-high 16^th in the Women’s Epee.

Kelsey, seeded 46^th in the tableaux of 64, squeeked by Kyoung Doo Park of Korea with a nervewracking 5-4 win in his first bout of the morning. He then upset the 14^th seed, Russia’s Anton Avdeev, 15-11, and next beat Radoslaw Zawrotniak of Poland 15-9 to advance to the quarterfinals.

He lost his quarterfinal bout to Gauthier Grumier of France. Kelsey stayed within a touch or two of Grumier through the first period, but Grumier pulled away after the first one-minute break and won 15-9.

Bratton began the day by eaking out a 10-9 win against Chao Huang of China in the round of 64 and then a huge upset of the no. 5 seed, Paolo Pizzo of Italy, 15-11 to advance to the top 16. There, Bratton was defeated by Gabor Bocsko of Hungary 15-8. Bocsko (silver or gold)

Ben Ungar (Bronx, N.Y.) also had a good competition. Seeded 58^th in the round of 64, he upset the seventh seed, Ruben Limardo of Venezuela, 15-13, but was then beaten by Jean-Michel Lucenay of France 15-12.

In the Individual Women’s Epee event, Kelley Hurley started out the day seeded 48^th after Friday’s preliminaries. In her first match, in the round of 64, she upset the 17^th seed, Mara Navarria of Italy, 15-11. Next, Hurley handed a defeat to 16^th seed Monika Sozanska of Germany, 15-9. She was finally stopped in the round of 16 by the top seed in the world, Hungary’s Emese Szasz. Szasz won the bout 15-7, and went on to earn the silver medal.

Kelley’s sister Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) lost her first match of the day to Ukrainian Yana Shemyakina, in a first 9-8 bout. Her two US teammates, Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Lauren Willock (Astoria, N.Y.), were eliminated on the first day of competition.

In the Wheelchair Women’s Epee, Cat. B, the US’s Andrea DeMello (New York, N.Y.) was eliminated in the first round of the competition. The US had no competitors in the Wheelchair Women’s Cat. A or C or Men’s Cat. A or C events.

The 2010 World Fencing Championships is being held in concurrence with the World Wheelchair Fencing Championships in Paris, France, Nov. 4-13. Tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 9, Men’s and Women’s Saber Team events take to the spectacular stage at the Grand Palais. Wheelchair Team finals will also be held.

About USA Fencing: The United States Fencing Association is the recognized National Governing Body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA is affiliated with the Féderation Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the international federation for fencing. USA Fencing is based at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. For more visit www.usfencing.org, www.facebook.com/usfencing or www.twitter.com/usfencing.

About the FIE: The Federation Internationale d’Escrime, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is the international governing body for the Olympic sport of fencing. The FIE is composed of 135 national federations, each of which is recognized by its country's Olympic Committee as the sole representative of Olympic-style fencing in that country.

2010 WORLD FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Nov. 4-13, 2010, Paris, France

Nov. 8 Results

Individual Men’s Epee

198 competitors

1. NOVOSJOLOV Nikolai EST

2. GRUMIER Gauthier FRA

3. BOCZKO Gabor HUN

3. LUCENAY Jean-Michel FRA

5. SCHMITT Martin GER

6. GAROZZO Enrico ITA

7. KELSEY Seth (29, Brush Prairie, Wash./NYAC)