USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – London Olympians Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.) and Jeff Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y.) each placed in the top 32 at the Padua Men’s Saber World Cup in Italy on Saturday.

The tournament is one of three final opportunities for men’s saber fencers to earn qualifying points for the Rio Olympic Games. Athletes ranked in the top 14 in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings after the Seoul Grand Prix in March will qualify for Rio with a maximum of two per nation. As men’s saber is only being contested as an individual event in Rio, selection is done by the FIE based on international results only and includes tournaments from April 2015 through March 2016.

Exempt from the pool rounds on Friday, Homer defeated Eliecer Romero (VEN), 15-9, in the table of 64 on Saturday, but finished 17th after a 15-7 loss to Sanguk Oh (KOR).

Homer earned four points on the Adjusted Olympic Rankings to take the No. 8 position in the standings with two events remaining.

Spear went 5-1 in the pool rounds on Friday and defeated Jose Quintero (VEN), 15-8, in the preliminary tables to qualify for the second day of competition on Saturday.

In the table of 64, Spear took a 15-5 win against Pablo Moreno (ESP) before losing to two-time Senior World team medalist Kamil Ibragimov (RUS), 15-8, in the 32. While Spear also earned four points in the rankings, he will need career-best results at the next two international events in order to move into the top 14.

Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.), the reigning Junior World and Senior Pan Am Champion, was exempt from the pool rounds, but fell short of the 32 when he lost to 2013 Junior World silver medalist Andras Szatmari (HUN), 15-14. Dershwitz finished 36th and now sits 12th in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings.

Peter Souders (Silver Spring, Md.), a 2015 Senior World Team member, finished 6-0 in the pool round to advance directly to the table of 64. Souders lost his bout to Alexandre Woog (ISR), 15-9, to finish 37th. Like Spear, Souders remains eligible to move past Dershwitz in the AOR, but will need career-best finishes to do so during the next two tournaments.

On Sunday, Homer, Dershwitz, Spear and 2014 Senior World Team member Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.) entered the team event.

Fencing on the heels of gold and silver finishes at the first two World Cups of the season, Team USA was seeded fourth and opened with a 45-34 win against Egypt in the table of 16 with Mackiewicz in at anchor.

In the quarter-finals, Korea, the 2012 Olympic Champions, held a 30-26 lead after the first six bouts. Mackiewicz outscored two-time individual Senior World medalist Bongil Gu, 9-3, in the seventh, but Dershwitz lost the eighth to Sanyuk Oh, 7-1. Homer entered the anchor bout at a 40-36 deficit and scored five against 2012 Olympic Team Champion Junghwan Kim, but Team USA lost the match, 45-41.

In the 5th – 8th place table, Team USA drew Italy, the reigning Senior World Champions, and lost the match, 45-31.

Team USA fenced Russia, the 2015 Senior World silver medalists, in the match for seventh, but ended the day in eighth after a 45-36 loss.

Click here to view complete individual results.

Click here to view complete team results.

Padua Men’s Individual Saber World Cup
1. Aldo Montano (ITA)
2. Aron Szilagyi (HUN)
3. Kamil Ibragimov (RUS)
3. Junghwan Kim (KOR)
5. Max Hartung (GER)
6. Mojtaba Abedini (IRI)
7. Sanguk Oh (KOR)
8. Andras Szatmari (HUN)

17. Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.)
27. Jeff Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y.)
36. Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.)
37. Peter Souders (Silver Spring, Md.)
71. Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.)
99. Evan Prochniak (Hudson, N.H.)
114. Marty Williams Jr. (Danbury, Conn.)
121. Gabe Armijo (San Diego, Calif.)

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