USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Men’s Saber Team earned its best result of the new season with a sixth-place finish at the Padua World Cup in Italy on Sunday.

Made up of the four athletes who also fenced team at the 2014 Senior Worlds, the team of Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.), Jeff Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y.), Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.) and Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.) qualified for the quarter-finals after a 45-39 win against Iran, but lost to Russia, the 2013 Senior World Champions, by a score of 45-31.

In the 5th – 8th place table, the Americans defeated Belarus, 45-36, to advance to the match for fifth where Team USA lost to Hungary, the 2014 Senior World bronze medalists, by a score of 45-39.

In the individual event on Saturday, Homer, Spear and Mackiewicz all fenced in the table of 64.

Exempt from pools due to his top-16 World Ranking, Homer finished 35th after a 15-10 loss to Andriy Yagodka (UKR) who went on to win silver.

Both Mackiewicz and Spear advanced to the 64 after a round of pools and two direct elimination rounds on Friday.

In the table of 64, Mackiewicz lost to Ali Pakdaman (IRI), 15-13, and finished in 52nd place. Spear drew 2013 Senior World Champion Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) in the 64, but lost the bout, 15-9, and placed 58th overall.

Click here to view individual results.

Click here to view team results.

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

Padua Individual Men’s Saber World Cup
1. Kamil Ibragimov (RUS)
2. Andriy Yagodka (UKR)
3. Sanguk OH (KOR)
3. Junghwan Kim (KOR)
5. Aliaksandr Buikevich (BLR)
6. Junho Kim (KOR)
7. Massimiliano Murolo (ITA)
8. Alberto Pellegrini (ITA)

35. Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.)
52. Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.)
58. Jeff Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y.)
103. Evan Prochniak (Hudson, N.H.)
111. Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif.)
115. Ben Igoe (Staten Island, N.Y.)
130. Thomas Kolasa (Princeton, N.J.)
135. Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.)
136. Andrew Fischl (Huntington, N.Y.)
137. Peter Souders (Silver Spring, Md.)

Padua Team Men’s Saber World Cup
1. Russia
2. Germany
3. Italy
4. Korea
5. Hungary
6. USA
7. Belarus
8. Romania