Congratulations to Alliance fencers, parents, and coaches for their great international achievements!
Alliance fencers, the members of USA and great Britain national teams did great at the cadet and junior international events October-December 2012
I. Junior World Cup/women’s epee/Bratislava, Slovakia/200 fencers from 29 countries:
Anna Van Brummen – SILVER
Madeline Antekeier – 35th
II. Junior World Cup/men’s epee/Bratislava, Slovakia/254 fencers from 32 countries:
Lewis Weiss – 15th
Jack Hudson – 82nd
John Cramerus – 203rd
III. Junior World Cup/men’s epee/Helsinki, Finland/170 fencers from 30 countries:
John Cramerus – 23rd
Lewis Weis – 28th
The junior world cup tournaments qualify fencers for the top four spots in their national teams for 2013 Junior World Championships that will take place in April. So far Alliance junior fencers are on the top of US national team point standings: Lewis Weiss – 1st, Anna Van Brummen – 2nd, and Anton Piskovatskov – 3rd, John Cramerus – 15th
IV. European Cadet Circuit/men’s epee/Chalons, France/156 fencers from 13 countries:
Anton Piskovatskov – SILVER
Ariel Simmons – 6th
Michael Popovici – 29th
Matthew Shlimak – 44th
V. European Cadet Circuit/women’s epee/Grenoble, France/172 fencers from 12 countries:
Molly Hudson – 5th
Gigi Vierheller – 51st
Farrah Lee-Elabd – 77th
Alexandria Micek – 109th
The European Cadet Circuits qualify fencers for the top three spots in their national teams for 2013 Cadet World Championships that will take place in April. So far Alliance cadet fencers are on the top of US and British national team point standings: Molly Hudson – 1st (GB), Anton Piskovatskov – 1st (and 3rd in juniors), Madeline Antekeir – 4th, Gigi Vierheller – 6th, Ari Simmons – 8th, Michael Popovici – 9th, Robin Cheong (Olympian/Alliance) – 11th, Sonya Tkachman – 11th.
The highlight of Chalons tournament was the bout between US fencer Anton Piskovatskov (Alliance) and the French fencer Roland Tchata for the top 8. The referee made at least 5 very controversial calls and was very rude to myself as well as other US coaches who tried to ask her simple questions about the calls she made. The reply was always the same – a yellow card. She also threatened with a black card if we were to continue to ask her any questions. The calls in question occurred when the French fencer hit the floor, and the referee repeatedly called it as a valid touch. I asked Anton to call the floor referees and the observers from the bout committee, which he did. He also stopped taking parry four which was causing the French fencer to hit the floor and switched to parry six as I advised him. At another point during the bout he took a parry six with an immediate riposte to the wrist, setting off the scoring light in his favor. The referee then said, “I didn’t see the light, therefore – no touch.” She did this twice!!! It was an obvious abuse of our fencers, and all US fencers, coaches, and parents were standing by Anton screaming, “USA, USA, USA!” The bout was so emotionally intense that Anton almost threw up on the strip. Finally he defeated the fencer 15-11, showing a great fighting spirit. Everyone at the venue was very impressed by his performance under those circumstances.
After the bout one of the French parents or coaches jumped towards our team and started to insult us verbally and with hand signs, and almost caused a fist fight. I asked the French team to remove him from the venue in order to prevent the conflict, as we were holding back our coaches and parents as well. Finally we managed to calm everyone down. The conflict was resolved in our favor.
The US cadet team looks very good. So far, we are one of the best teams. But the most important thing is that they all support each other and show a great team spirit. They were helping each other during the tournament, cheering for remaining US fencers even after they were done with their own fencing. Almost no one, including fencers, coaches, and parents, left the venue until the medal ceremony. I was very happy to see this.
For USFA pictures and articles about our success visit:
click HERE.
As always, let us thank Alliance Coaches Sabina Chernis, Benoit Bouysset, Sergey Danilov, Andrey Geva, Lewis Weiss, Suzette Wheeler, and Bethlehem Witte for their expertise and diligence in coaching Fencing Champions!!!
Go ALLIANCE!!!!
