Today is the second last day of fencing at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia and saw the final bouts of team foil as well as the first rounds of team epee.

After a bye into the round of 16, the eighth ranked women’s foil team faced the Germans in their bout today. The ninth ranked Germans defeated the Canadians by a score of 45-34.

Over in team epee the Canadian men faced a tough match against the team from Israel. The Canadians had previously lost to Israel three times this year, and were looking to win for the first time and make it into the round of 16. After coming back numerous times, most notably with Vincent Pelletier erasing a big deficit in the second last bout, the Canadians lost by a close score of 45-43. “They fought hard and it looked like they were finally going to make it to the 16’s, but were just unable to close out the match for the win”, said weapon leader David Howes.

The women’s epee team’s round of 32 match up was against the Venezuelans. After losing to the Venezuelans 45-25 at the last World Cup of the year in Rio, the Canadian team was looking to bounce back with a win. “They started off well and after the fourth bout the score was 12-12, but eventually the Venezuelans started to pull away. The Venezuelans fenced a smart match and we were not able to capitalize on our chances”, said Howes. The Canadians lost the bout 45-34, a closer bout than the last time they faced off but not enough to make it into the round of 16.

Today is the last day of competition in these World Championships for Canada as no teams advanced to the last bouts of team epee tomorrow.

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For further information, please contact:

Monika Leck, CFF Communications Intern: mdl246@cornell.edu