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Alexander Massialas Finishes 11th at Paris Foil World Cup

01/27/2013, 10:45am CST
By Nicole Jomantas
Alexander Massialas

Alexander Massialas. Photo Credit: Nicole Jomantas

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.) advanced to the table of 16 at the first men’s foil World Cup of the new season on Saturday at the Paris Foil World Cup.

Seeded 10th at the start of the event, both Massialas and his London Olympic Teammate Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) were exempt from the pool rounds that were held on Friday.

A freshman at Stanford, 18-year-old Massialas won his opening bout over Maxime Pauty (FRA), 15-13, and Alexander Choupenitch (CZE) – the top-ranked junior in the world – by a score of 15-14.

Massialas nearly upset 2011 Senior World medalist Giorgio Avola (ITA), but the Italian won their table of 16 bout, 15-14, and Massialas finished in 11th place.

All three of Massialas’s London teammates – Imboden, Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) and Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.) – advanced to the table of 32.

Imboden, who was in Paris last week where he walked the runway of the Louis Vuitton show during Fashion Week, defeated 2011 Cadet World Team member Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.), 15-5, but finished in 17th place after a 15-8 loss to Keith Cook (GBR).

Meinhardt and Chamley-Watson – seniors at Notre Dame and Penn State, respectively –  both fenced in the pools on Friday, where they advanced directly to the table of 64 after earning 5-1 results.

Meinhardt won his table of 64 bout over Daniel Garozzo (ITA), 15-8. In the table of 32, Meinhardt fell to London eighth-place finisher Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS), by a score of 15-11. Meinhardt finished 24th overall.

Chamley-Watson placed 26th after a 15-10 win over Tarek Ayad (EGY) and a 15-7 loss to 2011 Senior World Champion Andrea Cassara (ITA).

In the previous round, Cassara defeated Chamley-Watson’s teammate, two-time Junior World Team Champion David Willette (Lafayette, Calif.), 15-10.

Michael Dudey (Bellaire, Texas), who won gold at the 2012 Junior World Team Championships with Imboden and Massialas, earned his fourth top-64 finish during the past year with his 41st place result in Paris. Dudey, who finished 5-1 in the pools, lost his table of 64 bout to 2012 Junior World Champion Timur Safin (RUS), 15-14.

Massialas, Imboden, Chamley-Watson and Willette will fence in the team event on Sunday. Team USA will have a bye into the table of 16 where the squad will fence Belarus.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows, including athletes who placed outside the top 64 on Friday:

Paris Individual Foil World Cup
1. Andrea Baldini (ITA)
2. Jeremy Cadot (FRA)
3. Giorgio Avola (ITA)
3. Jiale Tao (CHN)
5. Andrea Cassara (ITA)
6. Valerio Aspromonte (ITA)
7. Siarhei Byk (BLR)
8. Tobia BIondo (ITA)

11. Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
17. Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
24. Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.)
26. Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.)
41. Michael Dudey (Bellaire, Texas)
59. Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.)
64. David Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
97. Michael Woo (Wayne, N.J.)
112. Turner Caldwell (San Francisco, Calif.)
130. Stephen Mageras (Darien, Conn.)
135. Jerry Chang (Mountain View, Calif.)

 

Tag(s): News  Alexander Massialas  Gerek Meinhardt  Miles Chamley-Watson