Russia’s Cheremisinov and China’s Zhu win gold in Bonn and Barcelona

Cheremisinov took the top honours at the Löwe von Bonn Men’s Foil Fencing event in Germany, whilst Zhu claimed success at the“Ciutat de Barcelona” Women’s Epee Fencing competition in Spain.

The Löwe von Bonn Foil event in Germany attracted a strong field of more than 250 international men’s foil fencers, as well as 27 teams from around the globe. And it was Russian World Champion Cheremisinov who caught the eye and took gold by beating world number two and Olympic silver medallist Alexander Massialas of the USA in the final, 15-8.

Cheremisinov had earlier beaten Great Britain’s Marcus Mepstead 15-7 in the quarter-finals, before seeing off Italy’s Guillaume Bianchi in the semi-final, 15-8

Massialas’s passage to the Final and eventual silver medal saw him beat Italy’s Lorenzo Nista 15-8 in the last eight before going onto dispose of France’s Jeremy Cadot in the semi-final, 15-11.

There was better news however for Massialas in the men’s team foil event as his Team USA won gold by beating Korea, 45-32 in the Final,

The Americans made it there thanks to victory over Russia in the semi-final, 45-37, whilst Korea beat France in the same round, 45-36. For the bronze medal match, France narrowly defeated Russia, 44-43.

In Barcelona, Spain, China’s Mingye Zhu produced a career best performance to take gold at the historic “Ciutat de Barcelona” Women’s Epee competition.

Around 250 women as well as more than 25 international teams made their way to compete at the Institut Nacional d’Educacio Fisica de Catalunya (INEFC), a facility from the 1992 Barcelona Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Zhu defeated Russia’s Tatyana Andryushina, 15-7, in the final to earn her gold medal, this after beating Korea’s Young Mi Kang in the semi-finals, 15-11. Andryushina had earlier eased through to the final showdown thanks to a comfortable 15-5 win over Ukrainian Olena Kryvytska.

Several top-level women’s epeeists were eliminated in the quarter-finals, including World Champion Julia Beljajeva of Estonia, World Champion Tatyana Gudkova of Russia and two-time World Champion and Olympic silver medallist Rossella Fiamingo of Italy.

In the women’s team epee event, Russia eased to a gold medal success over Italy, 35-25, in the Final.

Russia beat USA in the semi-final by priority, when the scores finished level at 32-32, whilst Italy beat Romania in the semi-final, 39-29. USA earned the bronze medal against Romania, with a 28-20 victory.