New photos!

Thanks to everyone who followed the blog during the Cadet and Junior World Championships, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed producing it.

We have now been able to put more of our best photos on to the blog album and there are now just shy of 200 images! You can see the whole album by clicking on the slideshow from the main blog page.

Happy viewing!

Men's foil teams - Italy sweep to gold

Italy completed a clean sweep of the men's foil titles at these championships, adding the team gold to the individual cadet and junior titles by beating USA 45-34. The Italians took a decisive 8 hit lead in the 4th fight by Foconi and although the Americans fought hard the result was never really in doubt from that point and Tomasso Lari duly finished off the Italian medal charge.

Russia takes women's epee gold

A tense technical and tactical battle in the women's epee team final Russia and Poland were virtually inseparable for most of the match. The Russians held a one hit lead going into the final fight at 30-29. A flurry of hits took Russia into a 4 hit lead at one stage and time was running out for the last Polish fencer and with just 8 seconds left Russia led 44-42 but two lightning attacks brought single lights for Poland and the match went into the extra minute. Russia had priority and as the Polish girl tried to press, the Russian coolly hit to leg to clinch the victory.

Final placings:
1. Russia
2. Poland
3. USA

Men's foil teams - Russia take bronze

Russia shrugged off the disappointment of a narrow semi-final defeat to take the bronze medal in the men's foil team event beating Korea 45-31. The Russians established a 20-9 lead by the end of the 4th fight and, despite a wobble in the 7th fight where the Koreans closed the gap to 5 points, Russia were soon back on track to claim the medal from an initial seeding of 14th.

Women's epee teams - USA clinch bronze

Hungary clawed back an early deficit to level the women's epee bronze medal play-off against USA at 35 all going into the final fight. A cagey first half kept the teams even but the American Hurley took a decisive 2 hit lead at 39-37 with a minute remaining and as Antal tried to catch up Hurley picked her off to take bronze for her team 45-40.

Junior Men's Foil - Italy and USA into final

Italy overcame a determined Korean team 45-35 in the semi-final of the junior men's foil team event.

The other semi-final was a much closer encounter with neither the giant-killing Russians nor USA able to establish a convincing lead and the final fight was level at 37-37 with just over a minute remaining. A flurry of hits followed and the Americans seemed to have taken the advantage with a 2 hit lead but Russia made a final frantic push to level again at 42 all before time ran out. Meinhardt of the USA had priority in the extra minute and finally clinched the match 43-42 with a calm riposte.

Russia will have regroup for their bronze medal match against Korea while Italy and USA prepare to battle for gold.

Women's epee teams semi-finals

Poland made short work of Hungary in the semi-final of the women's epee team event, winning 45-28 to progress to the final where they will fence Russia who had a relatively comfortable 45-34 win against the Americans. USA and Hungary will fence off for the bronze medal.

Ed Jefferies Interview - click here

Ed Jefferies, British silver medallist in the Junior Men's foil at the World Championships in Belfast talks about his performance, training, determination and ambition.

Men's foil team quarter-finals

Italy were in magnificent form to sweep aside Poland 45-16 in the first quarter-final and will meet Korea who controlled their match against China to win 45-34.

Russia continued to defy their initial lowly seeding to beat Ukraine 45-36 and will have USA in the semis as the Americans stretched away from Japan to run out comfortable 45-26 winners.

Women's epee team quarter-finals

Poland 45 beat Sweden 36
Hungary 45 beat Italy 42
USA 45 beat Ukraine 35
Russia 45 beat Estonia 27

Would love to give you some in-depth comment and analysis but I was watching the men's foil!

The semi-finals will be:
Poland v Hungary
USA v Russia

Men's foil teams last 16a

The British foilists lost 45-32 to Poland when, after a promising start, the match got away from them in the 4th, 5th and 6th fights, and Poland held a commanding lead to the end and will now face top seeds Italy in the quarter-finals after the Italians also won 45-32 against Slovakia. China beat Belarus 44-30, Ukraine beat Denmark 45-31, Japan beat Canada 45-30 and USA beat Egypt 45-38. The upset of the round was Russia comfortably beating 3rd seeds France 45-32 and undoubtedly the best match was the clash between Hungary and Korea. The match was close all the way but the Koreans edged 3 hits clear with less than a minute remaining but the last Hungarian went on the rampage and equalised at 44 all with 1 second remaining but in the extra minute Korea took the match with a single light to take their place in the last 8.

The quarter-final line-up is:

Italy v Poland
Korea v China
Russia v Ukraine
Japan v USA

Women's epee team last 16

Russia proved too strong for the British epeeists in the last 16, winning 45-21. Poland beat Czech Republics 45-31, Italy beat France 45-35, Hungary edged past Korea 45-44 and Ukraine had a similarly tense 44-43 win over Israel. USA beat neighbours Canada 35-26 and Estonia beat China 45-35. But special mention must go to the Sweden v Germany match which was level at 1 hit each after 3 fights and eventually went the way of the Swedes 17-16 in what can generously be described as a tense tactical battle.

The quarter-finals are:

Poland v Sweden
Italy v Hungary
Ukraine v USA
Estonia v Russia

Men's foil teams last 32s

In the matches in the last 32 stage of the men's foil teams, Denmark thrashed New Zealand 45-12 and Japan were even more ruthless in disposing of South Africa 45-10. Egypt beat Hong Kong 45-34, Slovakia beat Czech Republic 45-31, Hungary beat Brazil 45-35 and Belarus beat Portugal 45-39. In the closest match of the round Russia just edged past Holland 45-43.

The last 16 matches are:

Italy v Slovakia
Poland v Great Britain
Korea v Hungary
China v Belarus
France v Russia
Ukraine v Denmark
Canada v Japan
USA v Egypt

Women's epee teams last 32

The Great Britain women's epeeists beat Switzerland 45-36 to progress into the last 16 where they will meet 2nd seeds Russia. Most of the matches in the last 32 round were fairly straightforward - France beat Japan 41-24, Hungary beat Brazil 45-29, Israel beat Austria 45-28, Canada beat Holland 45-31 and China beat South Africa 45-16 but Czech Republic only just edged out Hong Kong 45-44.

The last 16 matches are:

Poland v Czech Republic
Sweden v Germany
Italy v France
Hungary v Korea
Ukraine v Israel
Canada v USA
Estonia v China
Great Britain v Russia

Day 9

The 9th and final day of the World cadet and junior championships sees women's epee and men's foil teams in action.

There are 23 teams in the women's epee with the top 3 seeds Poland, Russia and Ukraine. Great Britain are seeded 15th and face Switzerland in the last 32 stage.

In men's foil the top seeds are Italy, USA and France with Great Britain seeded 8th and a bye into the last 16 where they face Poland.