USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Sixteen-year-old Esther Bentolila (Hollywood, Fla.) celebrated her debut on the Cadet European circuit with a silver medal win on Sunday in Eislingen, Germany.

The 2014 Y14 Women’s Saber National Champion entered the tournament as the 137th seed, but quickly made her mark in pools where she went 5-1 with her only loss coming by a single touch.

After a bye into the table of 128, Bentolila won her bout against Hanna Sladkova (BLR), 15-7. She would go on to fence four Russians in the later rounds and set the tone early when she dominated Dariya Klimova (RUS), 15-3, in the table of 64.

Bentolila defeated Anastasiya Shorokhova (RUS), 15-8, and advanced as one of five members of Team USA to qualify for the top 16.

Bentolila won her next bout against Ludovica Ferrari (ITA), 15-10, while Elizabeth Tartakovsky (Livingston, N.J.), Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Portland, Ore.), Keli Izenson (Atlanta, Ga.) and Miranda Gieg (Sudbury, Mass.) each ended the day with top-16 finishes.

After a 15-4 win against Anna Koroleva (RUS) in the quarters, Bentolila locked down her first international medal and a position in the semifinals.

Bentolila advanced to the gold medal final after a 15-9 win against Liza Pusztai (HUN), and just missed upsetting the No. 1 fencer in the Cadet European Standings – Alina Mikhailova (RUS) who has won gold or silver in three out of four Cadet European Cups this season. Mikhailova won the bout, 15-14, to win her second gold of the season.

A bronze medalist at the Cadet European Cup in Godollo, Hungary earlier this season, Andrew Sun (Alpharetta, Ga.) earned another top-eight finish in Eislingen which allowed the Sun to move up to No. 2 in the United States as he seeks to qualify for his second Cadet World Championship Team.

Although Sun lost just one bout in the pool rounds, he began the DEs with a 55th seed.

Sun still earned a bye into the table of 128 where he defeated Chak Fun Terence Lee (HKG), 15-13. Sun won his next bout, 15-11, against Gokcem Ozcan Kamisli (TUR) and defeated Vyacheslav Bakharev (RUS), 15-10, in the table of 32.

Sun moved on to the table of 16 with teammates Christopher Walker (Atlanta, Ga.), Mitchell Saron (Ridgewood, N.J.) and Jason Oh (Englewood Hills, N.J.) Sun defeated Cezary Bialecki (POL), 15-13, while Walker, Saron and Oh finished in 10th, 13th and 16th place, respectively.

In the quarters, Sun lost to 2015 Cadet World bronze medalist Matteo Neri (ITA), 15-8, and finished sixth overall.

On Sunday, the United States entered four teams in the mixed team competition with two men and two women fencing on each team.

Sun and Saron fenced on USA 1 with Alexandra Gorman (Wellesley, Mass.) and Morgan Jenkins (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and the team opened the competition with a table of 32 match against Romania 3. Down 10-7 after the second bout, it was Gorman who changed the momentum for the team with an 8-3 win against Tania Lutea. USA 1 won or tied each of the next five bouts and Sun anchored the team to a 40-30 victory.

In the table of 16, USA 1 won fenced Russia 7, winning or tying all eight bouts. Sun returned as anchor and the Americans won the match, 40-21.

With Saron as anchor, USA 1 defeated Germany, 40-31, in the quarter-finals.

The Americans took on Russia’s top team in the semifinals with the match being assigned a female anchor for the first time of the day. Gorman stepped seamlessly into the role and won her seventh bout of the day, 5-3, over Anna Koroleva who finished eighth in the individual event.

In the gold medal final, USA 1 took on Russia 2 – a team led by women’s individual gold medalist Alina Mikhailova and men’s bronze medalist Artem Tselyshev. Although Jenkins posted a crucial 10-5 win against Mikhailova in the third bout, Russia 2 won the match and the gold, 40-34.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Eislingen Women’s Individual Saber Cadet European Cup
1. Alina Mikhailova (RUS)
2. Esther Bentolila (Hollywood, Fla.)
3. Liza Pusztai (HUN)
3. Bianka Kern (HUN)
5. Ariane Lebel (SUI)
6. Larissa Eifler (GER)
7. Mariya Siner (RUS)
8. Anna Koroleva (RUS)

10. Elizabeth Tartakovsky (Livingston, N.J.)
12. Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Portland, Ore.)
13. Keli Izenson (Atlanta, Ga.)
14. Miranda Gieg (Sudbury, Mass.)
17. Nora Burke (New York City, N.Y.)
23. Veronica Czyzewski (Caldwell, N.J.)
29. Alexis Anglade (Alpharetta, Ga.)
34. Sydney Hirsch (Woodbridge, Conn.)
45. Kristen Wong (Scarsdale, N.Y.)
48. Gillian Harrill (Chandler, Ariz.)
58. Alexandra Gorman (Wellesley, Mass.)
72. Morgan Jenkins (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
82. Ryan Jenkins (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
83. Alexis Browne (New York City, N.Y.)
86. Allison Dunlap (Redondo Beach, Calif.)
114. Monir Fahri (South San Francisco, Calif.)
121. Sara Cunningham (Decatur, Ga.)
184. Atara Greenbaum (Boca Raton, Fla.)

Eislingen Men’s Individual Saber Cadet European Cup
1. Vladislav Pozdnyakov (RUS)
2. Yalin Sahin (TUR)
3. Matteo Neri (ITA)
3. Artem Tselyshev (RUS)
5. Maxime Pianfetti (FRA)
6. Andrew Sun (Alpharetta, Ga.)
7. Vilmos Szlama (HUN)
8. Karol Lademann (POL)

10. Christopher Walker (Atlanta, Ga.)
13. Mitchell Saron (Ridgewood, N.J.)
16. Jason Oh (Englewood Hills, N.J.)
23. Salvatore Centanni (Washington, D.C.)
36. Nicolas Del Vecchio (Silver Spring, Md.)
45. Kamar Skeete (Duluth, Ga.)
46. Daniel Solomon (Setauket, N.Y.)
54. Mateja Maksymillian (Arlington Heights, Ill.)
58. Zachary Johnson (Chandler, Ariz.)
66. Edward Zhao (Potomac, Md.)
73. Filip Dolegiewicz (Park Ridge, Ill.)
78. Aaron Lu (Belmont, Calif.)
101. Ronald Yuan (Birmingham, Ala.)
121. Justin Petway (Plainfield, N.J.)
128. Alan Fotiev (Danbury, Conn.)
166. Alessandro Contreras (Silver Spring, Md.)
178. Jared Smith (Ladera Ranch, Calif.)
188. Ben Stone (New York, N.Y.)
211. James Linder (Chandler, Ariz.)

Eislingen Mixed Team Saber Cadet European Cup
1. Russia 2
2. USA 1
3. Russia
4. Russia 3
5. Germany
6. Russia 6
7. Spain
8. Russia 5

17. USA 2
19. USA 3
23. USA 4