February 14 – Canada’s run in Individual Men’s Epee came to an end Saturday.  Hugues Boisvert-Simard (Quebec, QC) was first up for Canada, facing Anton Avdeev from Russia, ranked 15^th in FIE rankings.  It was a close bout to the end with Boisvert-Simard leading by two points in the middle of the bout.  With time running out, Avdeev surged to come out on top to take the win 8-7.  Boisvert-Simard finishes as the top Canadian in 56th place.

Next up was junior Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger, who faced Jean-Michel Lucenay from France, currently ranked 12^th in the World.  The 36 year old veteran fencer proved to be too much for the 19 year old Canadian, with Lucenay taking the bout 15-6.  Blais-Belanger finishes the competition ranked 58^th.

Blais-Belanger had this to say about his performance: “While my last bout was difficult, I am nevertheless happy with my overall experience this weekend. I had my best result here in Senior this season and the event has been great preparation for the Junior World Championships coming up in April.”

“Overall I am pleased with my performance this weekend,” stated Boisvert-Simard.  My last bout was very close and I was either slightly behind or even throughout much of the match. Once I took the two point lead, I relaxed and changed my strategy and my opponent took advantage of it.  I changed back to my previous tactics but unfortunately ran out of time.”

Canada will be in action again Sunday in the Men’s Epee Team competition.  Canada hopes to qualify a team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and will be looking to earn valuable points through this competition. In action for Canada will be Vincent Pelletier (Quebec, QC), Hugues Boisvert-Simard (Quebec, QC), Leland Guillemin (Saskatoon, SK), and Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger (Montreal, QC).

 Follow the event through live streaming at: www.sportscanada.tv/fencingcanada/ and catch all of the results at: http://vancouvergp.com/Results.php.  Visit the CFF website page for a full gallery of photos.

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