USA Fencing

(Budapest, Hungary) – London Olympian Miles Chamley-Watson (Philadelphia, Pa.) will make history tonight when he becomes the second U.S. man ever to win an individual medal at the Senior World Championships.

Chamley-Watson, who placed fifth at the 2010 Senior Worlds, was seeded 17^th at the start of the Senior Worlds and won four straight bouts to advance to tonight’s semifinal bout.

After a 15-12 victory over Bojan Jovanovic (CRO), Chamley-Watson put U.S. fans on the edge of their seats over and over and over again as he won the next three bouts by 15-14 scores – all in come-from-behind fashion.

Among Chamley-Watson’s wins, the 2013 Penn State graduate defeated 2012 Olympic Team Champion Giorgio Avola (ITA) in the table of 32, world #3 Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS) in the table of 16 and two-time Senior World medalist Sebastian Bachmann (GER) in the quarter-finals.

He will fence 2012 Olympic Team Champion Valerio Aspromonte (ITA) in the semifinals. The only Italian to have advanced to the semi, Aspromonte defeated 2012 Olympian Alexander Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.), 15-14, in a controversial table of 16 bout.

The U.S. Men’s Foil Team also made history as Friday marks the first time any U.S. Men’s Fencing Team has had four athletes place in the individual top 16 at a Senior World Championships.

London Olympians Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif.) and Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) were both eliminated in the table of 16.

Meinhardt, who won bronze at the 2010 Senior Worlds, lost to 2012 Olympic Champion Sheng Lei (CHN), 15-14.

Imboden fell to Ukranian Rostyslav Hertsyk, 15-10.

The women’s individual saber event also is being contested today. Team USA includes four fencers who are all hoping for a chance at gold: two-time Olympic and four-time Senior World Team Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), 2012 Olympian and two-time Senior World team medalist Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.), two-time Senior World team medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad (Avenel, N.J.) and 2013 Pan American silver medalist.

Fencing fans can watch tonight’s semifinal and final rounds for men’s foil and women’s saber beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern live on www.UniversalSports.com.

The television broadcast will air at 9 p.m. Eastern on the Universal Sports Network. Check your local listings for additional details.