Toronto – The 2015 Junior-Cadet Pan American Championships held in Scarborough, Ontario at the Pan Am Sports Centre have come to an end with Canada taking home a total of 19 medals.  The event, which was the official test event for fencing at the 2015 Pan Am Games scheduled for this summer, saw over 300 athletes from 18 Pan American countries take part in the confederation championship in Cadet (U17) and Junior (U20).  Canada took him a total of four gold, seven silver and eight bronze medals over the 6 day competition.

All three of Canada’s teams competing Sunday advanced to the medal round. 

In men’s epee, the team of Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger (Montreal, QC), Dylan French (Richmond, BC), Nicola Damjanovic (Toronto), and Isaac Velestuk (Delta, BC) faced rival USA in the final in a nail biter, with Canada coming out on top 45-42 to win gold.

Canada’s women’s Foil team also had a great day. The team of Ariane Bilodeau (Outremont, QC), Angela Li (Toronto, ON), Sofya Romashina (Richmond, BC), and Jenny Zhao (Kanata, ON) breezed through to the gold medal final and faced the USA.  Canada’s young foil team came up against a more experienced USA however, and lost 45-37 to finish in second place on the podium.

In men’s sabre, Canada’s team of, Pascal Lambert (L’Epiphanie, QC), David Brown (Gainesville, FL.) and Cameron Mackay (Winnipeg, MB) just missed the gold final by losing to Argentina 45-43.  In the bronze medal final, the team faced Puerto Rico and won 45-39.

Canada won a total of four medals out of a potential six in team competition.

Epee fencer Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger who won two medals this week, including gold in Individual Junior Men’s Epee and gold in the Junior Men’s Epee Team event, had this to say about the competition: “It’s my last year as a Junior and it’s great to win the Pan Am Championships in my home country. I am now focussed on my next challenge which is to go for gold at the Junior World Championships in April.”

“Canada’s young fencers are doing extremely well and showing great promise for the future,” noted Brad Goldie, President of the Canadian Fencing Federation (CFF).  “It has been a fantastic week of competition in the venue that will be host to fencing at the Pan Am Games this summer. The CFF would like to sincerely thank the Government of Canada and Toronto 2015 for their support of this Championship.”

Next up for Canada’s top Junior and Cadet fencers is the 2015 Junior & Cadet World Championships, scheduled to take place April 1-9, 2015 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. 

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For additional information, please contact Caroline Sharp, ed@fencing.ca, (613) 323-5605

A full list of results is available through the CFF website (www.fencing.ca) by selecting the event banner, as well as through the FIE (www.fie.org).  Please visit the CFF Facebook page for photos from the event.