USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Men’s Foil Team took both the team gold medal as well as two individual podium finishes at the Bangkok Men’s Foil Junior World Cup in Thailand over the weekend.

Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.), Gregory Mitberg (Beaverton, Ore.), Thomas Dudey (Bellaire, Texas) and 2014 Cadet World medalist George Haglund (Califon, N.J.) earned a bye into the quarter-finals on Sunday where Team USA had little trouble defeating Kazakhstan, 45-24.

After a 45-40 win over Russia, the reigning European Champions, Team USA defeated Japan, 45-40, to win gold and secure the No. 1 ranking in the world.  

The win came on the heels of a double medal day in the individual events for the Americans where Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Haglund won silver and bronze, respectively, and Team USA had four athletes finish in the top six.

For Itkin, this would be just his second Junior World Cup appearance after recently earning the No. 1 ranking in the Cadet European Standings after winning gold in Budapest last month.

Itkin finished undefeated in the pools to earn a bye into the table of 32 where he won his first direct elimination bout, 15-11, over Alexey Chuev (RUS).

Itkin defeated Takuma Ito (JPN), 15-7, to advance to the quarters where bested 2015 Cadet World medalist Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.), 15-10.

Haglund also finished 6-0 in the pool rounds, but was nearly upset by Marat Bakirov (RUS) in the 32 before escaping with a 15-14 win.

In the 16, Haglund fenced 2015 Cadet World silver medalist Grigoriy Semenyuk for the second time of the day after defeating the Russian, 5-2, in pools. Haglund would win their DE bout by an eight-touch margin as he advanced to the quarters with a 15-7 victory.

Haglund drew Knodt in the quarters and defeated his teammate, 15-11, to secure his first individual Junior World Cup medal.

Haglund would end the day with a bronze after a 15-14 loss to Takahiro Shikine (JPN) while Itkin advanced to the gold medal round when he defeated Yudai Nagano (JPN), 14-13.

Shikine defeated Itkin as well, winning the bout, 15-11, as Itkin claimed the silver.

Click here to view complete individual results.  

Click here to view complete team results.

Bangkok Men’s Foil Individual Junior World Cup
1. Takahiro Shikine (JPN)
2. Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif.)
3. Yudai Nagano (JPN)
3. George Haglund (Califon, N.J.)
5. Julian Knodt (Palo Alto, Calif.)
6. Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif.)
7. Toshiya Saito (JPN)
8. Evgeniy Lomtev (RUS)

10. Duncan Rheinigans-Yoo (Watertown, Mass.)
13. Michael Li (Palo Alto, Calif.)
15. Gregory Mitberg (Beaverton, Ore.)
20. Sidarth Kumbla (San Jose, Calif.)
29. Lucas Orts (Burlingame, Calif.)
32. Thomas Dudey (Bellaire, Texas)
33. David Hadler (San Francisco, Calif.)
52. Rhishikesh Ranadive (Petaluma, Calif.)

Bangkok Men’s Foil Team Junior World Cup
1. USA
2. Japan
3. Russia
4. Singapore
5. Australia
6. Korea
7. Kazakhstan
8. Thailand