LAUSANNE, Switz., Nov. 12, 2018—The 2018-2019 International Fencing Federation (FIE) senior world cup season began this weekend with three events taking place in Germany, Estonia and France in men’s foil and women’s epee and sabre. Each world cup featured team and individual events and attracted some of the world’s top fencing talents.

Women’s Sabre. With nearly 200 contestants, Hungary’s Anna Marton took gold in Orleans, France at the women’s sabre world cup, defeating Spain’s Araceli Navarro in the final match of the individual competition, 15-10. Navarro beat France’s Caroline Queroli in the semi-final, 15-11, while Marton overcame Ukraine’s Alina Komashchuk, 15-10.

Home-favorite Team France took the gold against Russia in the women’s team sabre event, winning by two points, 45-43. In the semi-finals, Russia beat Italy, 45-41, and France defeated USA, also 45-41. Italy took the bronze medal against USA, 45-43.

Men’s Foil. Great Britain’s Richard Kruse, fresh from his silver medal in July at the Wuxi, China Senior Fencing World Championships, took gold at the Bonn, Germany men’s foil world cup individual event out of a field of more than 240 fencers. Kruse beat Italian world champion Andrea Cassara, 15-11, in the final match. Cassara defeated 2018 junior world champion from USA, Nick Itkin, in the semi-final, 15-10, while Kruse overcame France’s Enzo Lefort, also 15-10. Lefort was a bronze medallist in Wuxi in July. Notably, Itkin beat Italy’s Olympic gold medallist, Daniele Garozzo, in the quarter-finals, 15-9.

USA was victorious in the final of the men’s team foil event, defeating Italy in the final, 45-32. Italy beat France in the semi-final, 45-40, while USA prevailed over Japan, 45-30. The bronze medal went to Japan, topping France, 45-39.

Women’s Epee. With more than 250 fencers competing, Korea’s Hyojung Jung won the women’s epee world cup in Tallin, Estonia, taking the gold medal against Hong Kong’s Man Wai Vivian Kong, 10-6. Kong beat Chinese Olympic bronze medallist Yiwen Sun in the semi-final, 4-3, and Jung won against Italy’s Alberta Santuccio, 9-8.

Team Russia took the gold in the women’s team epee event, narrowly overcoming France in the final round, 45-43. France defeated USA in the semi-final, 29-25, while Russia took out Korea, 41-30. The bronze medal went to USA over Korea by a touch, 21-20.

Top Eight Finishers
The top individuals and teams from the three events include the following:

Women’s Sabre World Cup, Orleans, France

Individual: Anna Marton (HUN, gold), Araceli Navarro (ESP, silver), Alina Komashchuk (UKR, bronze), Caroline Queroli (FRA, bronze), Manon Brunet (FRA), Sarah Noutcha (FRA), Chloe Fox-Gitomer (USA) and Despina Georgiadou (GRE).

Team: France (gold), Russia (silver), Italy (bronze), USA, Hungary, Spain, Korea and China.

Men’s Foil World Cup, Bonn, Germany

Individual: Richard Kruse (GBR, gold), Andrea Cassara (ITA, silver), Nick Itkin (USA, bronze), Enzo Lefort (FRA, bronze), Timur Safin (RUS), Daniele Garozzo (ITA), Ryo Miyake (JPN) and Miles Chamley-Watson (USA).

Team: USA (gold), Italy (silver), Japan (bronze), France, Korea, Germany, Hong Kong and China.

Women’s Epee World Cup, Tallin, Estonia

Individual: Hyojung Jung (KOR, gold), Man Wai Vivian Kong (HKG, silver), Alberta Santuccio (ITA, bronze), Yiwen Sun (CHN, bronze), Young Mi Kang (KOR), Laurence Epee (FRA), Guangjuan Hou (CHN) and Melissa Goram (FRA).

Team: Russia (gold), France (silver), USA (bronze), Korea, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy and Poland.

Official results may be found here, on the official FIE Web site.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, October 10, 2018—On the fourth and final day of fencing competition at the third Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Europe has taken the gold medal in the Continental Mixed-Team event. In all, eight teams participated, including three from Europe, two from Asia-Oceania, two from the Americas and one from Africa. The competition took place in the YOG Africa Pavilion.

The Continental Mixed-Team event, unique to the Youth Olympic Games, includes six fencers on each team: three girls and three boys fencing epee, foil and sabre. Fencers on each team are from different countries in the continental region, so there are mixed countries represented on each team. The crowd-pleasing event provides for enthusiastic camaraderie among different cultures and countries.

In the today’s tournament, Team Europe 1 overcame Asia-Oceania in the gold-medal match, winning 28-25. Asia-Oceania beat Americas 1 in the semi-final round, 23-22, and Europe 1 defeated Europe 3, 30-22. Americas 1 took the bronze medal against Europe 3, 30-24.

The event format has six rounds (one for each team member) fenced to five touches or three minutes, whichever comes first, alternating genders and weapons. With six rounds and five touches possible in each, a maximum of 30 points are scored in each match. The team to reach 30 first wins, or they can win with fewer points if they are ahead and the end of the final three-minute period.

The eight teams, ranked in order, included Europe 1 (gold), Asia-Oceania 1 (silver), Americas 1 (bronze), Europe 3, Asia-Oceania 2, Europe 2, Americas 2 and Africa.

Full reports for fencing competition at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games may be found here.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, October 8, 2018—Ukraine’s Kateryna Chorniy and Italy’s Davide di Veroli won the individual women’s and men’s epee events on the second day of fencing competition at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Twenty-five fencers competed in the day’s tournament at the Games’ Africa Pavilion, along with several other activities devoted to promoting fencing.

Fencing Athlete Roles Models (ARMs) Daryl Homer (USA) and Maria Belen Perez Maurice (ARG) spent time at a fencing initiation program giving children curious about the sport an opportunity to try it first-hand. The kids were able to experience some of the footwork and beginning moves of how to fence, the importance of the physical and mental aspects of the sport, developing explosiveness and reaction time, and concepts such as honouring your opponent.

In competition results, ninth-seeded Chorniy overtook the top-ranked Hong Kong epeeist Kaylin Sin Yan Hsieh in the gold-medal match of women’s individual epee, 11-9. In the semi-final round, Hsieh beat Belgium’s Axelle Wasiak, 15-4, after narrowly defeating USA’s second-seeded Emily Vermeule in the quarter-finals, 15-14. Chorniy overcame Czech Republic’s Veronika Bieleszova, 15-11, to make the final. The bronze medal went to Bieleszova over Wasiak, 9-8.

Top-seeded di Veroli won the gold medal in the event’s final match against Germany’s Paul Veltrup, 11-4. Veltrup had a clean sweep until the final, defeating Kyrgystan’s Khasan Baudunov in the semi-finals, 15-12. Di Veroli overtook Egypt’s Mohamed Elsayed in the other semi-final, 15-9. The bronze medal went to Baudunov, who beat Elsayed by a single touch, 14-13.

The top-eight finishers in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games women’s individual epee event included Kateryna Chorniy (UKR, gold), Kaylin Sin Yan Hsieh (HKG, silver), Veronika Bieleszova (CZE, bronze), Axelle Wasiak (BEL), Emily Vermeule (USA), Ariane Leonard (CAN), Kinga Dekany (HUN) and Taehee Lim (KOR).

Top-eight winners in men’s individual epee included Davide di Veroli (ITA, gold), Paul Veltrup (GER, silver), Khasan Baudunov (KGZ, bronze), Mohamed Elsayed (EGY), Alexander Biro (AUT), Seiya Asami (JPN), Artur Tolasov (RUS) and Isaac Herbst (USA).

Individual men’s foil and women’s sabre will take place on October 9.

Full reports for fencing competition at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games may be found here.

 
 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, October 7, 2018—On the first day of fencing at the third Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, youth fencers from Japan and Hungary took gold in individual women’s foil and men’s sabre. IOC President Thomas Bach visited the fencing event, taking place in the YOG Africa Pavilion.

On-hand to welcome Mr. Bach were Canadian epee team member Ariane Leonard and International Fencing Federation (FIE) Secretary-General Emmanuel Katsiadakis. Yusra Mardini, refugee swimming team member from Rio 2016 and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, accompanied Mr. Bach. Fencing Athlete Role Models Daryl Homer (USA) and Maria Belen Perez Maurice (ARG) were also on-hand to introduce the event. Mr. Bach, himself an Olympic fencing gold medallist, participated in a fencing initiation program and watched the semi-finals of women’s foil and men’s sabre.

Top-seeded Japan’s Yuka Ueno overtook Italy’s Martina Favaretto in the gold-medal match of women’s foil, 15-12. Favaretto beat USA’s May Tieu in the semi-final round, 15-5, while Ueno defeated Venezuela’s Anabella Acurero Gonzalez, 8-4. The bronze medal went to went to Tieu by a narrow margin, 8-7.

In men’s sabre, Hungary’s Krisztian Rabb, seeded third entering the competition, took gold over Korea’s Jun Hyun, 15-13. Hyun beat USA’s Robert Vidovszky in the semi-final by a singe touch, 15-14, while Rabb overtook Egypt’s Mazen Elaraby, 15-6. In the bronze-medal round, Elaraby was victorious over Vidovszky, 15-10.

The top-eight finishers in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games women’s individual foil event included Yuka Ueno (JPN, gold), Martina Favaretto (ITA, silver), May Tieu (USA, bronze), Anabella Acurero Gonzalez (VEN), Jane Caulfield (CAN), Yingying Fu (CHN), Christelle Joy Ko (HKG) and Noha Hany (EGY).

Top-eight winners in men’s individual sabre at the Youth Olympic Games included Krisztian Rabb (HUN, gold), Jun Hyun (KOR, silver), Mazen Elaraby (EGY, bronze), Robert Vidovszky (USA), Samuel Jarry (FRA), Alonso Santamaria (ESP), Antonio Heathcock (GER) and Hibiki Kato (JPN).

Men’s and women’s individual epee will take place on October 8.

Full reports for fencing competition at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games may be found here.

 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Oct. 5-6 2018—The “Olympism in Action” Forum takes place in Buenos Aires on October 5-6 prior to the opening of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, providing a broad array of sport-related discussions and presentations and including a diverse group of Olympic athletes and champions, refugee Olympic team members, sport federation leaders, Olympic city mayors, UN leaders, Olympic partners, local and international officials and dignitaries, academics, “Young Change-Makers” and journalists. Notably, Mauricio Macri, President of Argentina and Thomas Bach, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President and fencing Olympic gold medallist, will lead the opening session in conversation with Argentina’s Jennifer Dahlgren, a hammer-throw Olympian.

Following the Opening, Ban Ki-moon, eighth United Nations Secretary-General and Chair of the International Olympic Committee Ethics Commission, will deliver an address to the Forum on “The Power of the Olympic Truce” in a discussion with Sonali Prasad, journalist with the Olympic Information Services Photo Project in India.

Daryl Homer (USA) and Maria Belen Perez Maurice (ARG), Fencing “Athlete Role Models” to the Youth Olympic Games, will also participate in the Forum.

A variety of programmes, debates, speeches and “working zones” will take place over the two-day Forum, including topics such as Women in Sport, Combatting Doping, Fair Play, Issues of Sports Betting and Match-Fixing, Prevention of Harassment and Abuse in Sport, Social Inclusion and Cohesive Societies, Spotlight on Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028, Generating Social Change Through Sport, City Perspectives on Hosting the Olympic Games and Combatting Corruption in Sport, among others. An awards ceremony and cultural evening will conclude the event on October 6, recognizing Women in Sports, Sport & Active Society Grants, IOC Coaches Lifetime Achievement and the world’s first certification for “Global Active Cities”.

Broadly, the intent of the Forum is to bring together and share a diversity of experiences and perspectives on how to build a better world through sport.

Everyone with a Youth Olympic Games accreditation may participate in the Forum, which will be held at the Exhibition and Convention Centre of Buenos Aires (CECBA). Detailed information about the Olympism in Action Forum may be found online at www.olympic.org/olympism-in-action.