Fencer Hugues Boisvert-Simard (Quebec, QC) finished in 19^th place in Individual Epee this past weekend in the FIE World Cup in Tallin, Estonia.

“It was my first World Cup of the season so I am quite happy, and it is my best result from the past year.  The season is starting well for me,” said Boisvert-Simard, who is currently ranked 58^th in the FIE rankings.

After winning all five of his pool matches, Boisvert-Simard qualified directly to the main draw.

In his first match on Saturday, he defeated Isralian Ariel Drizin by a score of 15-9. Boisvert-Simard then lost to Estonian Nikolai Novosjolov, currently ranked 15^th in the world, by a score of 15-10. “Because he is competing at home, the crowd cheered every time he scored a point, but it was dead silent when I scored which made a great contrast,” laughed Boisvert-Simard.

“My coach and I established a game plan to counter his style, which worked at first and I took a 3-2 lead, but he slowly scored a few points and took the lead back.  I tried to hustle a bit in the second period to put him on the defensive, but it just widened the gap further,” noted Boisvert-Simard.

“He was injured last year, but still managed to end the year with a good ranking. He is also a two-time World Champion so it was encouraging for me to be able to come out strong against him in the first period,” concluded Boisvert-Simard who will be back in action in the beginning of December in the Doha Grand Prix in Qatar.

In team competition, Boisvert-Simard, Maxime Brinck-Croteau (Gatineau, QC), Jean Lelion (Montreal, QC) and Leland Guillemin (Saskatoon, SK) lost their first match to the Americans 45-34 to finish in 22^nd position.

The women’s epee team were also in World Cup action in China with the women’s team finishing 17^th in the team competition.  Competing for Canada were Louise Fournier (Montreal, QC), Leonora MacKinnon (England), and Vanessa Lacas-Warrick (Chelsea, QC).

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