Wheelchair Fencing World Championships – Mainville finishes top 16

By admin September 21, 2015

September 20, 2015 – Pierre Mainville's day at the Wheelchair World Championships in Eger, Hungary came to an end Sunday with a finish in the round of 16. Mainville, from Saint-Colomban, Quebec lost in the elimination round of category B sabre to finish top 16. 

Mainville was 15th place following the poules with two wins and three losses. In his first match of the elimination round, Mainville faced Georgian Nikoloz Khatiashvili, ranked 18th after poules and 22nd in the world this season in Sabre. 

"It's the second time that I have faced the Georgian. His is someone who is slowly climbing the rankings. He was leading 2-0 but I modified my game plan and was able to execute the actions that I wanted. This went extremely well and I wont 15-2." Said Mainville, ranked 12th in the world in sabre. 

In the round of 16, Mainville faced the first place fencer from the poule round, Russian Albert Kamalov, who is currently ranked 8th in the world in sabre.

Mainville, who was taking part in his first competition since an injury to his elbow kept him out for months, lost 15-4. While not happy with this last performance, he is nevertheless happy to finish top 16 given his recent return from injury and is feeling confident for the rest of the season. 

"Normally I am not at a World Championship to finish top 16. For me this time, it was important to execute my game plan well. I am confident but I had to pay attention to my elbow. In the next competition, I shoud be more or less able to fence at 100%. In December I will be 120%. I expect to be fully recovered within six months so that in February I will be ready to go full out in competition."

On Saturday in Men's Foil Category A, Matthieu Hebert won one bout and lost four in the poules. Ranked 27th going into the elimination round, he faced 6th ranked Piers Gilliver from England and lost 15-5. In the Women's Foil category A, Ruth Sylvie Morel lost her five bouts in the poules and was eliminated.

Mainville competed Friday in Men's Epee Category B and finished ranked 26th overall while Matthieu Hebert finished 36th in Category A of the same weapon. Morel finished 23rd in Women's Category A Epee on Friday.