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The US Fencing Teams for Women’s Epee and Men’s Sabre earned silver and bronze at the 2010 Junior World Championships of Fencing today in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The US Women’s Epee team upset the #1 tournament seed and earned the silver medal while the US Men’s Sabre team earned the bronze medal.
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| The US Men’s Sabre team earned the Bronze medal. S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com |
Women’s Epee – Surprise Victory
The US Women’s Epee Team upset #1 Sweden and earned a silver medal at the 2010 Junior World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. The US team of Neely Brandfield-Harvey, Katharine Holmes, Courtney Hurley and Ashley Severson started out seeded 9th.
In their first match, the US knocked off Great Britain 45-36. They next faced #1 Sweden with gold medalist Johanna Bergdahl as their closer.
The US-Sweden match started out slow and neither team managed to get more than 1 or 2 points ahead until the final round of matches. Brandfield-Harvey started the 3rd rotation with a 5-1 match over Olivia Hagglof which put the US up for good. Holmes held on 6-5 in her next bout against Emma Vaggo and Hurley closed out the match with an 8-3 victory over Bergdahl to give the US a 43-31 victory.
The US next defeated upstart Israel 45-36. In the prior round Israel had defeated #4 Hungary 45-40. The US wasn’t about to be upset by them as Severson started the match with a 4-1 bout and the US never looked back.
In the finals, the US fell to Estonia 45-29. Earlier in the day, Estonia defeated the Ukraine 45-35 and Russia 45-38. Russia would take the bronze with a 45-43 victory over Israel.
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| Estonia, the United States, and Russia – S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com |
Men’s Sabre Successful
In men’s sabre, the United States entered the day as the #4 seed and took the bronze medal. The team of Eric Fass, Daryl Homer, Aleksander Ochocki, and Evan Prochniak, started off with a victory over regional rival Venezuela 45-36. In that match Homer took the first bout 5-4 and kept the lead throughout.
During the quarterfinal match against Belarus, Prochniak used an 8-4 match over Aliaksandr Abramovich to swing the US into the lead 20-19. The US would hold on to the lead as Homer used a 5-0 victory over Siarhei Shachanin to put the US ahead 30-24. The US won the match 45-33.
The US fell the Germany in the semi-final match 45-42. In that match the hero for Germany was Benedikt Wagner who went a combined 19-12, including a 10-3 match that put Germany in the lead. Germany went on to crush Canada 45-24 for the gold. The US faced Korea for the bronze medal and won 45-34.
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| Germany, Canada, and the United States – S.Timacheff/FencingPhotos.com |
Final Results: Junior Women’s Team Epee:
place name
1 Estonia
2 U.S.A.
3 Russia
4 Israel
5 Sweden
6 China
7 Hungary
8 Ukraine
9 France
10 Italy
11 Switzerland
12 Geat Britain
13 Korea
14 Poland
15 Japan
16 Spain
17 Canada
18 Kazakhstan
19 Azerbaijan
20 South Africa
Final Results: Junior Men’s Team Sabre:
| place | country |
| 1 | Germany |
| 2 | Canada |
| 3 | U.S.A. |
| 4 | Korea |
| 5 | Belarus |
| 6 | Italy |
| 7 | Russia |
| 8 | France |
| 9 | Hungary |
| 10 | China |
| 11 | Ukraine |
| 12 | Poland |
| 13 | Georgia |
| 14 | Venezuela |
| 15 | Spain |
| 16 | Turkey |
| 17 | Japan |
| 18 | Azerbaijan |
| 19 | Iran |
| 20 | Kazakhstan |
| 21 | Senegal |
| 22 | Israel |