Craig’s Fencing Blog

Tim v. Boris Sanson (FRA)

A lot of back and forth in this bout and a lot of testing valid surface area. 8-7 Tim at the break.

Igoe v. Tarantino. Ben’s combination defense and stop hits has his teammates telling him to just not attack. Mask goes bouncing at the break and Gigi seems unwilling to listen to his coaches despite being down to Ben 8-2.

After the break the antics continue. Ben uses attacks in preparation and opposition counters to push to 11-4 and Tarantino has a near coniption. Ben introduces a strong attack to the mix at 12-7 to further confuse Tarantino and closes at 15-9. Proof that sometimes the best tactic is to force your opponent to mentally implode.

In a replay of a bout I’m almost certain I saw in a Jr. final at the Dormagen World Cup, Limbach is fencing Kovalev. 2 touches in Nic is livid about an attack call and a mask gets tossed towards his en guarde line as the ref is rather decidedly given an earful. No cards but the entire audience “ooh” in disapproval like a room full of second graders that just heard someone say a bad word. Break in the action at 7-7. Kovalev is getting his ankle taped.

James loses 15-14 to Ciari of Italy after being up 13-9. A break to replace James’ broken back shoe gives the Italian time to regroup; when combine with a few tight calls and a little frustration at the mounting comeback this proves to be the trick for Ciari.

Tim wins his bout over Verbrackel of France.

15-10 for Lukashenko. Daryl mounted a valiant comeback attempt but the defecit just seemed to be too much. Meanhwhile, Ben Igoe wins another against a Ukrainian opponent after a minor collision causes a break in the action.

Jason is fencing Yakimenko, who is up 8-2 after a veritable onslaught to start the bout. Jason needs to find a way to slow down the bout and take away some of Yakimenko’s confidence in his attack and he can’t. 15-6 for Yakimenko.