Canadian junior fencers were in action yesterday for the start of the junior competition of the Pan Am Fencing Championships in Cancun, Mexico. 

The story of the day was Canada's dominance in women's epee.  It was an all-Canadian final with cadet Cindy Gao (Toronto, ON) facing fellow Canadian Emma Von Dadelszen (Vancouver, BC) who is in her first year of fencing at Ohio State University.

It was a tight battle to the end with Gao taking the gold by a close score of 15-14.  This was Gao's third medal of the Championship – she won silver in Cadet women's epee and silver in the Cadet mixed team competition.  Both Gao and Von Dadelszen advanced to the final after challenging final semi-final bouts.  Von Dadelszen defeated hometown favourite Jocelyn Cruz 15-13 while Gao defeated Sofia Komar 4-3 to advance the final.  The win for Gao was particularly sweet as Komar had defeated Gao in the Cadet women's epee final.

Monica Lubczynski (Pointe-Claire, QC) also had a great day but came 5^th after losing to fellow teammate Von Dadelszen in the quarter-finals.  Another Canadian in the top 16 was Alexanne Verret (Quebec, QC) who finished 15^th overall.

Madison Thurgood (Edmonton, AB) led all Canadians in women's sabre.  She finished 7^th after losing her quarter-final bout to USA's Kara Linden who went on to win gold in the event.  Sisters Veronique Lamarre and Rachel Lamarre (Blainville, QC) finished 13^th and 15^th respectively while Frederique Bourget (Blainville, QC) came 21^st.

The top Canadian in Men's Foil was Sean Grant (Canadian in US) in 9^th place.  Mikhail Sweet (Winnipeg, MB) and Christopher Sheardown (Medicine Hat, AB) were 13^th and 14^th while Daniel Gu (Edmonton, ON) was 19^th overall.

In competition today are the Individual events for Men's Epee, Women's Foil and Men's Sabre.

All competition can be watched through live streaming at: http://esgrimacancun2016.pgtb.me/3xjgTW

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