USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Team USA’s foil fencers dominated the Montecatini Cadet European Cup in Italy on Saturday with a sweep of the podium.

Fencing for the second time this season on the men’s foil Cadet European Circuit, Team USA now holds seven out of a possible eight medals after winning gold and both bronzes at the tournament in Gyor, Hungary in September.

The Americans began the tournament with four fencers posting undefeated pool results as Sam Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.), Michael Li (Palo Alto, Calif.), Alexandre Amice (St. Louis, Mo.) and Julian Chang (Lexington, Mass.) each going 5-0.

Moelis earned the top seed in the direct elimination rounds, followed by Li in third and Amice and Cheng tied for fourth.

All four fencers earned byes into the table of 64 where they each won the opening round against Italian opponents.

Moelis defeated Tommaso Chiappelli, 15-12, and Li won his bout against Marco Rossi (ITA), 15-4. Amice and Cheng defeated Oliver Genovesi, 15-12, and Marco Consoloni, 15-14, respectively.

Moelis and Li both advanced to the table of 16 after Moelis win his bout over Giorgio Longega (ITA), 15-11, and Li defeated teammate Justin Ling-Yi Zhou (Louisville, Ky.), 15-7.

Amice and Cheng each lost in the 32 to Italian opponents with Amice dropping his bout to Filippo Gasperini, 15-8, and Cheng falling to 2014 Cadet European Team Champion Sebastiano Bicego, 15-5.

In the table of 16, Moelis defeated teammate Kenneth Chui (Palo Alto, Calif.), 15-4. Li also advanced to the quarter-finals after a 15-11 win against Pietro Velluti (ITA).

Moelis and Li were just two of five U.S. fencers that would advance to the quarters.

After two wins against Italian fencers, Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.) bested a third member of the Italian team with a 15-12 win against Filippo Mariotti in the table of 16.

Ahn kept both of his first two opponents to single digit scores and went on to defeat Gasperini, 15-6, in the 16 to qualify for his first quarter-final on the international circuit.

A bronze medalist in Gyor, Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.) fenced in a difficult pool where a 3-2 result left him with a 40th seed in the table of 128. After three early wins, Kumbla drew his Silicon Valley Fencing Center teammate, Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.), in the table of 16. Kumbla won the bout, 15-13, over Tourette who took gold at his last Cadet European Cup in Gyor.

Moelis and Kumbla would fence in the quarters with the bout coming down to the final touch before Moelis took the win, 15-14.

Ahn defeated Bicego, 15-6, to set up a semifinal bout against Moelis.

Li won his quarter-final, 15-4, against Alessandro Perrone (ITA) and would take on Itkin who was coming off a 15-13 win against Andrea Funaro (ITA).

With an American podium sweep secured, Moelis won his semifinal bout against Ahn, 15-9 and Li defeated Itkin, 14-7.

The first period of the gold medal final was a close battle with Moelis leading Li, 6-4. In the second period, Moelis outscored Li, 9-2, to finish the bout, 15-6.

Competition continues on Sunday with 20 U.S. fencers competing in the women’s event.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Montecatini Men’s Foil Cadet European Cup
1. Sam Moelis (Hewlett, N.Y.)
2. Michael Li (Palo Alto, Calif.)
3. Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.)
3. Aiden Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.)
5. Alessandro Perrone (ITA)
6. Sebastiano Bicego (ITA)
7. Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.)
8. Andrea Funaro (ITA)

10. Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.)
16. Kenneth Chui (Palo Alto, Calif.)
18. Alexandre Amice (St. Louis, Mo.)
18. Julian Cheng (Lexington, Mass.)
25. Cameron Allen (Newtown, Pa.)
26. Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.)
27. Justin Ling-Yi Zhou (Louisville, Ky.)
42. Samuel Barmann (Barrington, R.I.)
46. Zohaib Mannan (Short Hills, N.J.)
48. Lucas Orts (Burlingame, Calif.)
53. Jack Holmes (Houston, Texas)
66. Leo Zaroff (San Francisco, Calif.)
67. Justin Kang (Fullerton, Calif.)
70. Maxwell Chung (Greenwich, Conn.)
73. Aidan Chu (San Francisco, Calif.)