Canada wins two more silver medals at the Pan Am Fencing Championships

By admin June 8, 2014

In the last day of competition, the Women’s Foil and Men’s Sabre teams were in action. The Women’s Foil Team, consisting of Kelleigh Ryan (Ottawa), Shannon Comerford (Saskatoon), Alanna Goldie (Calgary) and Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton) had a good start to the day, handily defeating Costa Rica 45-26.  Their semi-final match was against Brazil which proved to be a bigger challenge, however Canada was successful in coming out on top with a score of 45-29. “Our first match with Costa Rica was a good start to the day,” stated the Foil Team members. “Our semi-final match with Brazil was challenging but we were able to rally well as a team to come out ahead.”

Canada then faced the USA in the final and lost their quest for gold with a score of 21-16.  "We are all a bit disappointed with how the team tournament went,” stated the team. “We were hoping to have a best ever result and win three gold against the USA but fell short in a low scoring bout 21-16. We want to thank our coaches, Paul ApSimon and Mike Peterson for their undying support, and our sponsor, Finger Food Studios."

The Men’s Sabre Team were in action Friday as well, and also faced the USA team in the final. The team of Philippe Beaudry (Montreal), Fares Arfa (Montreal), Shaul Gordon (Vancouver), and Joseph Polossifakis (Montreal) advanced to the final by handily defeating Puerto Rico in their first match by a score of 45-22.  They faced Argentina in their semi-final match and defeated them 45-33.

Canada, ranked 11th in the world in men’s team sabre, then faced the USA team in the final.  The USA is currently ranked 6th in the FIE world rankings.  Despite exciting action with the lead changing hands a number of times, Canada unfortunately lost the match by a close score of 45-42, to finish on the second step of the podium.

Silver was the colour for Canada at the 2013 Pan Am Fencing Championships with Canada taking home two Individual silver medals (Kelleigh Ryan, women’s foil and Philippe Beaudry, men’s sabre) as well as four team medals (Men’s Foil, Men’s Epee, Women’s Foil and Men’s Sabre).

Next up for the Senior National Team is the World Championships in Kazan, Russia from July 15-23, 2014.

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