Back from Moscow after a 14-day trip that included a Grand Prix in Budapest. On the American fencing front, Jeff Spear lost in the top-64 to a Chinese fencer, but in only his second world cup and first Grand Prix, he showed a lot of poise and confidence which bodes well for his future.
James Williams lost 15-12 to Tricarico of Italy in the round of 64 as well. Tricarico was having an extremely good day and he advanced to the top-8 defeating Hungarians Szlagy and Lontay before falling to Limbach from Germany.
Jason Rogers defeated an Iranian fencer and then fell in the bracket of 32 to Yakimenko of Russia. I defeated a Russian junior in the round of 64, then defeated Pillet of France 15-10 before falling to Yakimenko in the top-16.
Yakimenko looked extremely sharp all day as he captured the gold medal and an estimated $5,000 dollars for his win. He has been in a bit of a slump, but this result should certainly give him renewed confidence.
Individual Final Results:
1st Yakimenko (RUS)
2nd Pastore (ITA)
3rdShturbabin (UKR), Limbach (GER)
14th Tim Morehouse
25th Jason Rogers
37th James Williams
45th Jeff Spear
65th Mike Etropolski
In the team event, USA finished 6th defeating a greatly improved Japanese team 45-35 before falling to Italy 36-45 in an attempt to make the top-4. USA defeated Russia 45-21 and then lost a close match to France 39-45.
Mike Etropolski made his team debute and got great experience. He was phenomenal against a young Russia team fencing without Yakimenko. He won all three of his matches by a few points and he was a big part of the large margin of victory.
The Hungarians, fencing again without Nemscik and with Junior Iliasz won their second Grand Prix in a row! A team hasn't won two grand prixs in a row in a few years, so this is no small feat.
The Hungarians were trailing by a few points going into the final match against China when Szilalgi utterly destroyed the 6?7 Wang of China to bring home the victory. They are certainly the fastest moving team out there with Szilalgi and Iliasz.
Italy also had a thrilling 45-44 victory over Germany with Limbach coming on strong against Tarrantino in the final match, but he was able to hold on and close him out on the final touch to secure the victory.
Team Results:
1st Hungary
2nd China
3rd Italy
4th Germany
Other News and Notes:
* Newly retired Stanislav Pozniakov looked good in his new uniform: a suit! He is now heading the Russian Fencing Federation
* Korea did not show up for the second Grand Prix in a row
* Poland, Spain and Romania skipped the competition
* The finals were televised on Russian TV
Tim Morehouse is a 2008 Olympic Silver Medalist in Team Sabre. Visit www.timmorehouse.com for more fencing news.
Tag(s): News
