Wheelchair Fencing European Championships come to an end in Sheffield, UK
21/07/2011
A successful event for the nations and athletes involved, with Hungary finishing at top of the medal table with a total of 9 medals.
A successful event for the nations and athletes involved, with Hungary finishing at the top of the medal table with a total of 9 medals.
In the Men’s Team Epee France faced Russia in the final. While Russia took an early five point lead and were still four points ahead going into the fifth fight, France’s Noble managed a five-point turnaround against Russia’s Alexander Kuzyukov. Marc André Cratere and Robert Citerne then stretched France’s lead to five points before Noble returned to the piste to wrap it up despite a late flourish by Artur Yusupov.
Russia had upset the form book to reach the final putting out second seeds Belarus 45-42 and third seeds Poland 45-39 before finding favourites France a step too far in the final. The bronze medal match went to Poland who beat Italy 42-27.
Another fine, all-round performance from the Hungary in the Women’s Team Foil event ensured that their national team finished top of the medal table with seven gold medals overall. The scores in their three matches speak for themselves as they beat Great Britain 45-23, Poland 45-34 and then Ukraine 45-24 in the final with Zsuzsanna Krajnyak fittingly landing the final hit to take her personal tally to four gold medals. The bronze medal was won by Russia who beat Poland 45-27.
RANK | COUNTRY | GOLD | SILVER | BRONZE | TOTAL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hungary | 7 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
2 | France | 4 | 6 | 2 | 12 |
3 | Russia | 4 | 4 | 11 | 19 |
4 | Ukraine | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
5 | Belarus | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
6 | Italy | 4 | 2 | 6 | |
6 | Poland | 2 | 6 | 8 | |
8 | Germany | 2 | 2 |
In the round up of the championships, Event Director John Timms said ‘how proud he was of the partnership working and team effort which has just delivered the European Senior and Wheelchair Fencing Championships.’ Before going on to add ‘the enthusiasm and hard work of all staff and volunteers during the week had been amazing and undoubtedly a major factor in the success of the tournament.
Justine Wilmott, Performance Manager of the British Disabled Fencing Association went on to say, ‘the wheelchair fencers had really appreciated competing in a European that ran alongside the able-bodied event. This added status to the competition and also helped raise awareness of the sport of Wheelchair Fencing’.