Plenty to cheer about on day three in Hong Kong
It was a day of mixed emotions in Hong Kong for the third day of the Senior World Championships with Women’s Foil and Men’s Sabre in action in individual competitions.
The Aussies had eight athletes in action across both weapons and managed to get five of them through the pools and into the DE’s. But despite pushing opponents all the way in some close knockout encounters, we were unable to advance anyone to day two.
In the Women’s Foil competition, Sophia Glasson, Kirsty Xue, Mayuri Muralidharan and Rianne Leung all stepped out onto the piste to represent the green and gold.
For Leung who was competing in her first senior World Champs it was tough going finishing the pools 0-5 but gaining tremendous experience.
Our other three girls all earned themselves a bye into the T96 round having great pool results – Xue finishing 4-2, and both Glasson and Muralidharan ending up with 3-3 records.
All one win from day two and the Table of 64, it was a case of close but yet so far for both Xue and Glasson.
Xue raced away to an 8-4 lead against Hungarian Jazmin Papp, who managed to claw herself back into the match as the score levelled out at 10-10. In a seesawing battle Xue unfortunately couldn’t land the decisive touch – going down 14-15 in an amazing first crack at this tournament.
Glasson also fell agonisingly short of a day two berth going down to Philippine fencer Samantha Kyle Catantan 13-15. It was another rollercoaster of a match where the lead changed several time before ultimately Catantan proved to be too strong.
Muralidharan was up against a tough opponent in her DE bout – meeting German Leonie Ebert who came into the match seeded 28th. Ebert controlled the bout from the outset with Muralidharan going down 15-1.
In Men’s Sabre we were represented by Alex Brown, Yoongi Shim, Colin Chen and Angus Thomas with Brown and Shim managing to get out of the pools and into the DE’s.
Brown advanced from his pools 2-4 where he showed some solid fencing – marginally losing two of his bouts 4-5. He progressed through to the Table of 128 where he faced Bulgarian Todor Stoychev and the pair battled in a tight affair. Unfortunately for Brown and Team Australia we were on the wrong side of the ledger when the bout was done – Brown going down 15-12.
Shim also had a good day at the event, progressing through his pools 3-3 before taking on Brazilian Vince Liu in the Table of 128. Shim found himself in a commanding position late in the match before Liu clawed his way back – eventually winning 14-15 to put an end to Shim’s individual tournament.
For Chen, he overcame Philippine fencer Christian Anthony Concepcion in the pools with a convincing 5-1 win, but couldn’t get the required second victory on the board, finishing with a 1-6 record.
Thomas unfortunately finished the pools 0-6, but showed enormous spirit and fight in several of his matches in an encouraging outing for the South Australian.
WHAT THEY SAID:
Women’s Foil
Kirsty Xue
“My day was really interesting – I started off with a pretty rough pool bout at the start. During the whole day, I was trying to shift my mentality which gradually it worked, and overall I’m pretty happy with how I did.
“I think it certainly is a little bit daunting – this is my debut World Championship and my second senior competition, so fencing at this level has definitely been quite new to me.
“But seeing all these Olympians and great fencers come together at this one competition is just a really good experience, and I’ve learned a lot from it.”
Sophia Glasson
“Overall it was a pretty good day – kind of a slow start and had some nerves, but once I got over that my fencing just kept improving with each bout that I had.
“I had a tough matchup for my 96, but overall I was really happy with the way that I managed myself throughout, about how I fenced.
“It honestly just came down to little mistakes in the end, but I didn’t make the same mistake twice so I’m keen to have a look over the bout and see what I could’ve done differently. Overall a good performance, areas to improve on and it was a good experience.”
Mayuri Muralidharan
“I feel like I fenced really well. I’m really happy with my performance – especially because I feel like I’ve improved a lot since the start of the year and also since Asians.
“I was really happy with my result in the pools. I’m a little upset over my direct elimination, but it’s just unfortunately the luck factor that plays into fencing a bit, so it was an unfortunate ending, but I’m really happy with how I did.”
Rianne Leung
“I started the day off a bit nervous and then in pools I didn’t really do that well, but I think I’ve tried my best and of course there’s room for improvement and I look forward to more competitions.
“It was pretty overwhelming and I think I could have done better, but I still have a lot more years to go, and I am looking forward to continuing on my journey.”
Men’s Sabre
Alex Brown
“I think I showed a lot of promise in the pools, but I fell short because I didn’t really keep my head about me.
“I faced some real strong results against some world class opponents – my results against quality opponents really were something I’m quite proud of .
“And then the elimination was unfortunate – I definitely was in a position to win it but made a few too many errors.
“But overall, very, very proud to be here representing Australia and representing the people back home in Perth.”
Yoongi Shim
“I am very happy – happy to be here in the first place,because this is my first World Championship.
“I only just lost – one point behind, but next time I will hope to go further.
“I’m feeling good, I’m gaining experience and am very proud to be here wearing the Australian badge, so next time you watch me, stay tuned!”
Colin Chen
“It was a pretty good day – results probably could have been better, but it’s a good little good learning opportunity to come out and fence the best of the best.
“It was a fantastic experience!”
Angus Thomas
“It was a rough day in the office. A lot to learn from, a lot to grow. A lot that I am going to change before teams them and overall, I’m happy with about 35% of how I went.
“I can only ever blame myself for the performance that I put in on the day as it is an individual sport, but I enjoyed being here and love fencing for Australia.”
To view the results from the event click here: https://shorturl.at/xoezQ
To view the broadcast of the event head to https://fencingtv.com/