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Wheelchair Worlds Begin Tuesday in Rome

11/06/2017, 6:15pm CST
By Kristen Henneman

Two-time Paralympian Joey Brinson (left) will compete at this fifth Wheelchair Worlds. Photo Credit: Ginny Boydston.


Curtis Lovejoy enters the Worlds as a bronze medalist from the 2017 Warsaw World Cup. Photo Credit: Ginny Boydston.

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Seven of Team USA’s top wheelchair fencers will compete at the Wheelchair World Championships, which begin Tuesday in Rome, Italy.

Running Nov. 7-12, the competition will take place at the Convention Center of the Hilton Rome Airport hotel.

A special finals presentation will be held during the second day of competition on Wednesday inside the international terminal of the Fiumicino Airport.

A two-time Wheelchair World Champion, Curtis Lovejoy (College Park, Ga.) leads Team USA. Competing in Category C epee and foil, Lovejoy won gold in both weapons in 2006 and has medaled at each of the past two World Championships, including bronze in foil in 2015. At 60 years old, Lovejoy remains a two-sport athlete who holds two Paralympic titles in swimming and represented Team USA in both swimming and fencing at the 2000 Paralympic Games.

Ranked No. 1 in the USA Wheelchair Rolling Point standings in both epee and foil, Lovejoy ranks No. 5 internationally in Category C men’s foil after claiming bronze at the 2015 and 2017 Warsaw World Cups.

London Paralympic teammates Gerard Moreno (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.) will both compete in Category B foil and saber, as well as foil team.

Four-time Paralympian Moreno has earned a spot on his sixth World team. A six-time World Cup medalist – three in foil and three in saber – Moreno won gold in foil at the 2017 Wheelchair National Championships and bronze at the 2016 Pan American Championships in both foil and saber.

Brinson, who is a two-time Paralympian in saber, is the only returning Paralympian from the 2016 Rio Games.

Competing on his fifth consecutive World Championship team in saber, Brinson is the top-ranked wheelchair saber fencer in the United States and took silver at the 2016 Pan American Championships. This year’s event marks Brinson’s foil debut at the World Championships.

Joining Moreno and Brinson on the men’s foil team will be first-time World Team member Andy Quattrociocchi (Marietta, Ga.) As a team, the Americans earned the silver medal at the 2016 Pan American Championships. Two of the three members of that team return in Moreno and Quattrociocchi.

Individually, Quattrociocchi, who is the 2016 National Champion in wheelchair epee, will compete in Category A epee and foil.

In the women’s events, Andrea De Mello (New York, N.Y.) will represent Team USA in Category B epee and saber at the first Worlds after it was announced that women’s saber would be a contested event at the 2020 Paralympics.

De Mello is a four-time Paralympian in both epee and foil who represented Brazil in 1996, 2000 and 2004 before competing for Team USA in 2008. This will be De Mello’s first appearance at the Wheelchair Worlds since 2011, but she could be a contender for the finals after winning bronze in saber at the 2016 Montreal World Cup.  

Also making her third World Team, Ellen Geddes (Johnston, S.C.) enters the Category B epee and foil events coming off gold medals in epee and foil at the October North American Cup. She also brought home the bronze in epee at the 2014 Montreal Grand Prix.

Rounding out the team, two-time North American Cup Champion Patricia Dykes (Gulf Breeze, Fla.) will compete in Category A women’s foil at her first World Championships.

Live results will be posted at http://www.wheelchairfencing.live/en/competition/109-2017/tournament/.

The schedule for the Wheelchair Worlds is as follows:

Tuesday, November 7
Men’s Category A Foil
Women’s Category B Saber
Women’s Category A Epee
Men’s Category B Foil

Wednesday November 8
Women’s Category A Foil
Men’s Category B Epee
Men’s Category A Saber
Women’s Category B Foil

Thursday November 9
Men’s Category A Epee
Women’s Category A Saber
Men’s Category B Saber
Women’s Category B Epee

Friday November 10
Women’s Team Epee
Men’s Team Foil
Women’s Category C Foil
Men’s Category C Epee

Saturday November 11
Women’s Category C Epee
Men’s Category C Foil
Men’s Team Saber
Women’s Team Foil

Sunday November 12
Women’s Team Saber
Men’s Team Epee

The complete team roster is as follows:

Men’s Category A Epee
Andy Quattrociocchi (Marietta, Ga.)

Men’s Category A Foil
Andy Quattrociocchi (Marietta, Ga.)

Women’s Category A Foil
Patricia Dykes (Gulf Breeze, Fla.)

Men’s Category B Foil
Gerard Moreno (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.)

Men’s Category B Saber
Gerard Moreno (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.)

Women’s Category B Epee
Andrea De Mello (New York, N.Y.)
Ellen Geddes (Johnston, S.C.)

Women’s Category B Foil
Ellen Geddes (Johnston, S.C.)

Women’s Category B Saber
Andrea De Mello (New York, N.Y.)

Men’s Category C Epee
Curtis Lovejoy (College Park, Ga.)

Men’s Category C Foil
Curtis Lovejoy (College Park, Ga.)

Men’s Team Foil
Andy Quattrociocchi (Marietta, Ga.)
Gerard Moreno (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.)

Team Leader
Ginny Boydston (Jackson, Miss.)

Director of Coaching Development
Les Stawicki (Louisville, Ky.)

Head Coach
Mickey Zeljkovic (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.)

Sports Medicine
Perry Williams (Winchester, Ky.)

Tag(s): Joseph Brinson