Feb. 15, 2015 – The last day of the Peter Bakonyi Men’s Epee World Cup in Vancouver kicked off with the Senior Team Men’s Epee competition.

Canada’s team, which was composed of Vincent Pelletier (Quebec, QC), Hughes Boisvert-Simard (Quebec, QC), Leland Guillemin (Saskatoon, SK) and Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger (Montreal, QC), faced the 16th seeded Japan.  The team was behind at the start but managed to work their way back to a tie.  The Japanese pulled away in the end however and Canada lost 45-42.  Canada finished in 20^th place.

“Our match with Japan started slowly as the team was noticeably nervous. The substitution of Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger cut into the Japanese lead, and appeared to have relaxed the team and motivated the senior members,” stated Men’s Epee National Coach, Victor Gantsevich.   “Vincent Pelletier found his form and clawed us back to within three points.  Hugues Boisvert-Simard tied the match at 42 but could not secure the win.” Gantsevich went on to state, “I am proud of how the team fought back and I believe we can build on this as we head to the Senior Pan Am Championships and the Toronto Pan Am Games.”

It was another successful staging of the Vancouver Men’s Epee World Cup event, with 176 athletes participating from 29 countries.  For complete results select the event banner from the CFF website (www.fencing.ca) and visit the CFF Face Book page for photo galleries from each day of the event.

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