Matthieu Hébert finished in 7^th place in Men’s Epee A this past weekend at the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in the Netherlands. The result was Hébert’s best finish to date in World Cup competition.

“It was a great day!” stated Rio 2012 Paralympian Hébert from Beauharnois, Quebec. “My objective is to consistently finish top 16 this year and finishing top 8 surpasses that! I would have liked to have won my quarter-final bout to compete for a medal, but that will be my goal for the next time.”

Hébert started his day with three wins and two losses in poules. He then defeated Cheong Meng Chai from China 15-8 to advance to the top 16’s where he faced Ukrainian Vadym Tsedryk. It was a very close bout with Hébert coming from behind at 14-12 to eventually win 15-14. Hébert credits his coach Iulian Badea with providing good on-site advice as a major contributor in his win. Hébert’s loss came in the quarter-finals against Abdullah Alhaddad from Kuwait by a score of 15-9 to finish in 7^th place overall.

In her first World Cup season, Wheelchair Camille Chai from Montreal continues to climb the rankings. Chai finished in 10^th place in Epee A, losing her top 16 bout a close 15-13 against Elke Lale van Achterberg from Turkey. Ryan Rousell from Saskatoon made his World Cup debut, competing in the U23 event and finished in 8^th place. He also took part in the Senior World Cup in Sabre A finishing 17^th and Epee A finishing 32^nd.

Both Hébert and Chai also competed in Sabre A with Hébert finishing in 16^th and Chai coming in 14^th overall.

In other fencing highlights from the weekend, men’s epee fencer Hugues Boisvert-Simard (Quebec, QC) finished 42^nd out of over 300 fencers at the Paris World Cup advancing directly to the 64’s after winning all of his pool bouts.

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