Open tournament

My first victory over A-rated fencer! It’s pool, not direct elimination, but it still feels great, especially since the victory was pretty confident – 5:2. There were 6 people in my pool – one A, one B, one C, two Es, and one unrated (me). I managed to win two bouts – with the A, and with one of the Es. This was my first time in a tournament of this level. Wow, tough bouts, really great experience.

I ended seeding 21st for direct elimination. First DE was against my “worst nightmare” of an opponent – tall, long-armed lefty, using a french grip on his epee. Of course he’s holding it at the pommel, which gives him another 4-6 inches of reach over me. As if his height and arm length weren’t enough. Well, I had some ideas what to do against such opponent, and some of them even worked, to my surprise. The bout turned out pretty interesting, though I still lost 15:11, and ended up 21st out of 31.