Montreal, August 7, 2013 (Sportcom) – Pierre Mainville had a tough day Wednesday in Budapest, Hungary, at the Wheelchair Fencing World Championships. Competing in the B Category of the Sabre class, Mainville saw his day end in the round of 16 in his first bout in direct eliminations.

The Saint-Colomban, Quebec native closed the round robin with two victories and four defeats. “I began well enough, with a 5-2 won over Austria’s Thomas Manfred Boehm. Then I lost 5-4 against Poland’s Grzegorz Pluta – he’s an excellent fencer. But after that, I became a bit lost, I was having a hard time thinking clearly about what I was doing,” commented Mainville, who also experienced a difficult 5-0 defeat at the hands of Russia’s Alexander Kurzin.

“At that point, I began to have doubts about my attacks; it completely broke my rhythm and I lost matches that should have been easy to win – against Greece’s Emanouil Bogdos and Hong Kong’s Siu Lun Leung. There were three round robin bouts that I should have won,” explained Mainville, who nonetheless earned a second victory against American fencer Ryan Estep.

When faced with Poland’s Adrien Castro in the first elimination round, Mainville was defeated 15-7. Of that effort, Mainville intriguingly analyzed, “My opponent gave me a fencing lesson. Castro has really improved of late. His style is a bit complicated, and generally it gives me a lot to work with, even if I’m reacting on the fly. Sometimes in a match though, you don’t know what to do anymore because what you try isn’t working – that’s about where I was with him in that match.”

Regardless of the results, Mainville maintains perspective, “It’s unfortunate that this happened at a World Championships, but at least it didn’t happen in an Olympic qualifying year,” reasoned the Quebec resident who has spent the past four months training in Spain.

“It’s a mistake in my process, and I’ll need to correct it for future competitions; there are still things for me to perfect,” concluded Mainville.

Italy’s Alessio Sarri earned the Sabre World Championship title, while France’s Marc-André Cratère earned second place behind him.

Pierre Mainville returns to the arena Thursday for épée competitions; Sylvie Morel will pick up sword in women’s épée competitions in the A Category.

-30-

Written by: Julie Roy Translation: A.L. Cox