July 14 – Gabriella Page and Joseph Polossifakis stole the Canadian spotlight during the first two days of the 2015 FIE Fencing World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

Both Quebec fencers advanced to the table of 32 on Tuesday, after strong first day performances secured their spots in the direct elimination rounds. Page won a thrilling 15-14 bout in the table of 64 against Mexican Ursula Gonzalez Garate, before bowing out of the competition in the table of 32 against third-seeded American Mariel Zagunis for a 28^th place finish.

Polossifakis was perfect through the pool rounds and continued his winning streak in his table of 64 bout against Hungarian Tamas Desci. Polossifakis’ run was ultimately halted in the table of 32 against tenth-seeded German Max Hartung. He finished the competition 23^rd overall.

“I felt really good, actually,” said Polossifakis, “I beat the guy who came in 3^rd at the last Grand Prix, so I was very happy about that. Then I fenced a German (Hartung) who is doing really well, but I really believe there were two to three major mistakes which impacted the match. In any case, considering where I started at the beginning of the year, these last two competitions have been fantastic for me. I am finally getting healthy again and I am looking forward to the Pan Am Games to close out the season.”

Other individual sabre results included: Marissa Ponich (66^th), Fares Arfa (74^th), Shaul Gordon (84^th), Pamela Brind’Amour (85^th), Meredith Giroux (98^th), and Mark Peros (133^rd).

Meanwhile, the épée competition got into full swing this morning with both the Canadian men and women’s team kicking off individual competitions.

Unfortunately, the competition has ended early for members of both the men and women sides, with Hugues Boisvert-Simard posting the best result (68^th), followed by Maxime Brinck-Croteau (79^th), Malinka Hoppe (91^st), Leonora Mackinnon (101^st), Alexis Anna D. Rudkovska (118^th), Jean Lelion (121^st), Joanna Guy (126^th) and Leland Guillemin (131^st).

The final individual competition goes tomorrow, as Canadian foilists are set to begin their world championships before team events begin on Thursday.

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