Sabre fencer Shaul Gordon who hails from Richmond, BC but now resides and trains in Montreal, had a historic day at the 2019 World Fencing Championships.  Gordon finished 8^th after losing a close bout in the quarter-finals.

Gordon made it to today’s final rounds of the Men’s Sabre competition after four wins and two losses in poules, followed by a 15-13 elimination round win against Oleksiy Statsenko from the Ukraine.

Seeded 46^th going into the top 64, Gordon defeated Iran’s 19^th seed Ali Pakdaman by a score of 15-10.  Gordon then faced Hansol Ha from Korea and won a close 15-13 to advance to the top 16’s. There Gordon faced third seed Kento Yoshida and came out on top 15-10 to advance to the quarter-finals.  Gordon’s day came to an end in the top 8’s with his close loss to Italian Luca Curatoli, currently ranked 6^th in the world, by a score of 15-12 to finish in 8^th place overall.

“It was a great day and competition overall,” said Shaul Gordon following his last bout.  “I just lost a close one so it’s hard to feel great at the moment but overall I am pleased with how I fenced at Worlds.  I need to work on a few small details which will help me this season.  I’m looking forward to the Team competition.”

Said High Performance Director and Men’s Sabre Coach Benjamin Manano, “It was a very good performance for Shaul Gordon.  The work he has done in the last few years has enabled him to get the result he had today.  It’s an outstanding day for Canadian sabre and a historical one too as we have never finished top 8 at the World Championships in sabre.  Shaul’s result is also a reflection of the great work of personal coaches and athletes who work collaboratively in the sabre program in Canada.”

Gordon had two other teammates in the top 64’s today. Joseph Polossifakis and Fares Arfa, both from Laval, QC finished 51^st and 61^st respectively.  Canada also had two athletes in the Women’s Epee finals.  Malinka Hoppe Montanaro (Montreal, QC) and Leonora Mackinnon (Newbury, England) finished 49^th and 50^th respectively overall. All athletes earned valuable Olympic qualifying points by making the top 64’s.

The Women’s Foil and Men’s Epee Individual Final Rounds take place Friday.  Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON), Jessica Guo (Toronto, ON) and Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa, ON) will be competing for women’s foil while Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger (Montreal, QC) will take the stage in Men’s Epee.  For live results and live streaming, please visit https://www.2019budapest.com/.

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