USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – After becoming the first U.S. men’s saber silver medalist since 1904 at the Rio Olympic Games, Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.) started the new season with another podium finish, taking the bronze at the Men’s Saber World Cup in Dakar, Senegal.

Exempt from the pool rounds as the fifth seed entering the tournament, Homer won his first bout on Saturday against Remi Senegas (FRA), 15-13, in the table of 64. In the next two rounds, he defeated Edward Barloy (FRA), 15-11, and Dario Cavaliere (ITA), 15-10, to advance to the quarterfinals.

Homer bested Bolade Apithy (FRA), 15-13, in the quarters to guarantee a medal, but came up short against 2015 Senior World Team Champion Enrico Berre (ITA) in the semifinals, 15-12.

Homer’s Olympic teammate, Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.), finished 11th after just getting out-touched in the table of 16. The sixth seed, Dershwitz earned a 15-10 victory over Enver Yildirim (TUR) in the 64 and a 15-9 win over 2014 Junior World Team Champion Leonardo Affede (ITA) the following round, but narrowly lost to 2015 Senior World Team Champion Luca Curatoli (ITA) in the 16.

A total of eight U.S. fencers competed on the second day, including six athletes who advanced out of the preliminary rounds, but were eliminated in the table of 64. The six athletes who earned top-64 finishes included: Peter Souders (Silver Spring, Md.), Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif.), Will Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y.), Evan Prochniak (Hudson, N.H.), Thomas Kolasa (Princeton, N.J.) and Calvin Liang (Chandler, Ariz.)

Souders and Prochniak joined Homer and Dershwitz in the team event on Sunday.

The Americans went into the quarter-finals as the top seed, but Iran built a 40-37 lead by the end of the eighth bout. Homer took on Mojtaba Abedini – his opponent from the 2016 Olympic semifinals – in the anchor bout. Their semi in Rio came down to the last touch at 14-14 with Homer taking the win in dramatic fashion. This time, Homer scored seven on his opponent to force another tie, but Abedini stole the final touch for a 45-44 victory.

Iran went on to take gold, leaving the Americans to fence in the 5th – 8th place rounds.

In the match against France, Dershwitz posted a +7 indicator with two wins and a tie against his opponents, but Homer still had a two-touch gap to make up in the anchor leg. Fencing against Vincent Anstett who won gold in the individual event on Saturday, Homer scored six, before Anstett took the winning touch for a 45-44 victory.

The Americans fenced Germany, the 2014 Senior World Team Champions, for seventh place. All four fencers competed in the last match of the day with Dershwitz putting up a +12 indicator to boost Team USA to a 40-32 lead after the eighth bout. Homer anchored against Richard Huebers and ended the match with a 45-40 win for the United States.

Click here to view complete individual results. Team results can be found here.

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

Dakar Men’s Individual Saber World Cup
1. Vincent Anstett (FRA)
2. Enrico Berre’ (ITA)
3. Luca Curatoli (ITA)
3. Daryl Homer (Bronx, N.Y.)
5. Richard Huebers (GER)
6. Bolade Apithy (FRA)
7. Lorenzo Romano (ITA)
8. Maxence Lambert (FRA)

11. Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.)
44. Peter Souders (Silver Spring, Md.)
46. Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif.)
47. Will Spear (Wynantskill, N.Y.)
51. Evan Prochniak (Hudson, N.H.)
62. Thomas Kolasa (Princeton, N.J.)
64. Calvin Liang (Chandler, Ariz.)
68. Gabriel Armijo (San Diego, Calif.)

Dakar Men’s Team Saber World Cup
1. Iran
2. Italy
3. Korea
4. Hungary
5. France
6. Great Britain
7. USA
8. Germany