USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Foil Team claimed six out of eight medals, including both men’s and women’s golds, at the Gyor Foil Cadet European Cup in Hungary on Saturday.

Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.) and Morgan Partridge (Swansea, Mass.) each earned career first international titles.

After going undefeated in pools, Tourette won four direct elimination rounds before dropping a 15-13 bout in the table of eight to Tamas Meszaros (HUN).

Due to the repechage format of the event, Tourette had a second chance to stay in medal contention and knocked off top-ranked U.S. fencer Sam Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.), 15-5, to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Tourette’s teammates, Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.) and Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.), each advanced into the quarter-finals following repechage wins as well with Knodt defeating Benjamin Bodo (ROU), 15-6, and Itkin winning his bout against Gabor Bellovicz (HUN), 14-8, in the final repechage bout.

Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.) took five straight direct elimination wins to qualify for the quarter-finals undefeated.

Tourette, Knodt and Kumbla guaranteed a three-medal finish for the Americans when they each won the quarters. Tourette edged Sebastiano Bicego (ITA), 15-14; Knodt won his bout against Meszaros, 15-7; and Kumbla defeated Alvise Dal Santo (ITA), 15-11.

Itkin lost his bout to Bogdan Barmakov (RUS), 15-7, and earned a sixth-place result.

In the semifinals, Tourette defeated Knodt, 15-8. Knodt won his second Cadet European Cup bronze after placing third when this event was held in Budapest in 2013.

Kumbla lost his semifinal to Barmakov, 15-4, but finished the day with his first Cadet European medal.

Tourette fenced Barmakov in the finals and won the bout, 15-13. The win is the first gold medal for Tourette on the international circuit and allows him to move up to No. 7 in the Cadet European Rankings and No. 2 in the U.S. standings.

On the women’s side, Partridge won her first gold medal at a Cadet European Cup and her third straight title at the cadet level after winning the Junior Olympic Championships and July North American Cup earlier this year.

Seeded 23rd out of pools, Partridge won four straight direct elimination bouts and defeated her teammate, Carlexa Fevry (New York City, N.Y.), by a score of 15-11 to move on to the quarter-finals alongside 2014 Cadet World Team member Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.) who was undefeated in the DEs as well.

Sylvie Binder (Armonk, N.Y.) and Finnula Mageras (Darien, Conn.) each dropped a bout in the table of 16 and 32, respectively, but both athletes fought back through the repechage to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Binder defeated Nora Hajas (HUN), 15-11, in her final repechage bout and Mageras earned a 15-8 win against Fevry.

In the quarter-finals, Partridge, Binder and Deschner secured medals with a trio of wins.

Patridge outscored Renata Tomczak (POL), 15-11, to set up a semifinal against Binder who defeated 2014 Cadet European Championships team silver medalist Janka Toth (HUN), 15-8. Deschner outtouched two-time Cadet European Championships team medalist Kata Kondricz (HUN), 15-14.

Mageras lost her bout against 2014 Cadet World medalist Flora Pasztor (HUN), 15-9, and finished seventh overall.

The semifinals featured a rematch of Partridge’s July NAC final against Binder. Partridge earned a second victory against her teammate, 15-6. In the other semi, Deschner advanced to her second Cadet European Cup final in the last year with a 15-10 win over Pasztor.

Patridge controlled the final bout and defeated Deschner, 15-5.

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:

Gyor Men’s Foil Cadet European Cup
1. Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.)
2. Bogdan Barmakov (RUS)
3. Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.)
3. Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.)
5. Alvise Dal Santo (ITA)
6. Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.)
7. Sebastiano Bicego (ITA)
8. Tamas Meszaros (HUN)

9. Sam Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.)
19. Samuel Barmann (Barrington, R.I.)
22. Leo Zaroff (San Francisco, Calif.)
26. Michael Li (Palo Alto, Calif.)
30. Julian Cheng (Lexington, Mass.)
32. Aiden Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
33. Jared Dans (Merrick, N.Y.)
34. Justin Kang (Fullerton, Calif.)
42. Kenneth Chui (Palo Alto, Calif.)
44. Joseph Marino (Rockville Centre, N.Y.)
46. Cameron Allen (Newtown, Pa.)
52. Eoin Gronningsater (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
53. Zohaib Mannan (Short Hills, N.J.)
56. Lucas Orts (Burlingame, Calif.)
74. Shuya Ishizuka (New York City, N.Y.)
81. Aidan Chu (San Francisco, Calif.)

Gyor Women’s Foil Cadet European Cup
1. Morgan Partridge (Swansea, Mass.)
2. Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.)
3. Sylvie Binder (Armonk, N.Y.)
3. Flora Pasztor (HUN)
5. Janka Toth (HUN)
6. Renata Tomczak (POL)
7. Finnula Mageras (Darien, Conn.)
8. Kata Kondricz (HUN)

11. Carlexa Fevry (New York City, N.Y.)
15. Polly Adler (Scarsdale, N.Y.)
16. May Tieu (Belle Mead, N.J.)
18. Maria Summers (Tigard, Ore.)
19. Danielle Ferdon (San Francisco, Calif.)
20. Samantha Viqueira (Maplewood, N.J.)
26. Anna Zhou (Lexington, Mass.)
28. Jessica Gets (Morganville, N.J.)
33. Natalie Yang (Colts Neck, N.J.)
37. Xiao-Qing Tsai (Salt Lake City, Utah)
38. Kennedy Lovelace (Frisco, Texas)
40. Weichee Chen (Birmingham, Ala.)
47. Myrka Boyd (Corinth, Texas)
50. Isabel Wei (Palo Alto, Calif.)
90. Alyssa Chen (San Diego, Calif.)
95. Justine Banbury (East Grand Rapids, Mich.)