Crutchett the shining light as British fencers struggle in World Cup events
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ByEurosport
Published 27/02/2015 at 21:04 GMT
Alex Crutchett offered a brief ray of light as Great Britain’s fencers otherwise found it tough going as the senior international fencing season continued with sabre events in Belgium and Poland.
General shot of fencing (PA Photos)
Image credit: PA Photos
In the men’s sabre World Cup event in Warsaw, 203 fencers took part which saw varied success and progression for the British contingent.
Harry Boteler, Crutchett, James Honeybone, Curtis Miller and Jonathan Webb progressed through the first round but Soji Aiyenuro, Michael Clarke and Rafael van Hoffelen did not make the cut.
In the first of two preliminary knockout fights Crutchett beat Poland’s Albert Stanislawski 15-14 and Webb secured a 15-13 victory over France’s Emmanuel Gans.
Boteler, Honeybone and Miller did not go any further though, as they lost to the USA’s Benjamin Natanzon 15-14, Spain’s Guillermo Mancheno 15-10 and Canada’s Shaul Gordon 15-7, respectively.
A dominant display from Crutchett in the second preliminary fight saw him make day two and the round of 64 with a 15-3 victory over Romania’s George Iancu whilst Webb was beaten 15-2 by Poland’s Adam Skrodzki.
Crutchett’s fine form continued in the next round, where he beat bronze medallist from the Padua World Cup, Korea’s Sanguk Oh, 15-7. His next opponent was Italy’s Luigi Samele and in another great contest Crutchett progressed 15-14.
However Crutchett’s run end in the round of 16 where he faced another Italian, Luca Curatoli, who knocked him out 15-7. This points haul leaves Crutchett just outside the world’s top 100.
Korea’s Bongil Gu beat Romania’s Tiberiu Dolniceanu 15-8 to take the title as Curatoli and Hungary’s Aron Szilagyi completed the podium.
There were 23 entries to the team event including one from Great Britain who went out 45-43 to Egypt in the round of 32.
France defeated Korea 45-43 to take the gold medal as Russia beat Italy by the same score for the bronze medal.
In the women’s sabre World Cup event in Ghent, Belgium, 169 fencers took part. From the Great Britain contingent, only Katherine Kempe progressed through the first round as Harriet Dixon, Bridget Pleasant and Sophie Williams all exited early on.
But that was as far as the success went as Kempe was beaten 15-10 by Italy’s Loreta Gulotta in the first of two preliminary knockout fights.
Russia’s Sofya Velikaya won the overall competition, beating the USA’s Mariel Zagunis 15-10 in the final, with Hungary’s Anna Marton and Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan taking the bronze medals.
In the team event the 20 entries did not include one from Great Britain as Italy took the gold medal, beating France 45-40 in the final. The USA beat Russia 45-30 for bronze.
The 2014/15 senior season continues on 13 March with a foil Grand Prix in Havana, Cuba.
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