Amsterdam and Belgrade host exciting weekend of fencing competitions

Amsterdam in The Netherlands played host to a men’s foil competition which was won by Turkey’s Martino Minuto, beating Italy’s Filipp Guerra in the Final.

It was an interesting encounter between the two but the Turkish fencer eventually prevailed thanks to a 15-12 scoreline.

To reach the Final, Minuto had been equally as impressive by accounting for Canada’s Alex Lim in the quarter-finals 15-8 and then Belgium’s Stef De Greef 15-9 in the semi-finals.

Guerra’s passage was slightly tougher as he beat Denmark’s Thomas Lerche Berg 15-13 in the quarter-finals, before progressing to the Final at the expense of Slovakia’s Cedrik Serri 15-11 in the semi-finals.

There was an all-Italian Final in the men’s sabre competition also held in Amsterdam as Francesco D’Armiento beat compatriot Nicola Guarnaccia 15-6 in the Final.

Earlier, the winner had to fight hard to make the Final, beating another Italian, Iacopo Rinaldi 15-9 in the quarter-finals, before being taken right to the wire in the semi-finals by Turkey’s Enver Yildirim before winning 15-14.

Guarnaccia had a slightly more comfortable tough route to the Final in comparison, beating USA’s Thomas Kolasa 15-9 in the quarter-finals before seeing off Argentina’s Stefano Ivan Lucchetti 15-10 in the semi-finals.

Belgrade, Serbia was the venue for a men’s foil competition which was won by Argentina’s Jesus Andres Lugones Ruggeri.

He beat Romania’s Adam Macska by 15 touches to 10 in the Final, having beaten off the challenges of Austria’s Nikolaus Hofer 15-10 in the quarter-finals and then Hungary’s Samu Szlachanyi 15-12 in the semi-finals.

Macska found his way to the Final equally as challenging but got there on the back of beating Serbia’s Danilo Nikolic 9-7 in the quarter-finals, and then fellow Romanian Liviu Dragomir 15-13 in a closely-fought semi-final.

Belgrade was also the venue for a women’s epee competition which was won by Canada’s Leonora Mackinnon.
Her 15-11 victory in the Final came over Hungary’s Dorina Budai, having previously edged past Austria’s Stefanie Fehrer 15-13 in the quarter-finals and then Romania’s Claudia Naboiu 15-12 in the semi-finals.