Medals galore for ZFW fencers fencing for England at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships 2022
By William Tsang
Senior Womens Foil
Silver - Teagan Williams-Stewart
9th Amelie Tsang
Senior Mens Foil
Gold - Harry Bird
Senior Womens Foil Team
Gold - Teagan Williams- Stewart
Gold - Amelie Tsang
Senior Mens Foil Team
Gold - Harry Bird
5th Alex Tofalides (CYP)
26th Chris Nagal (CYP)
Junior Womens Foil
Gold - Teagan Williams-Stewart
Silver - Amelie Tsang
Junior Mens Foil
Bronze - Dario Stenbeck-Schiavo
Bronze - David Williams
16th David Sosnov
22nd Leo Lim (SGP)
Junior Womens Foil Team
Gold - Teagan Williams-Stewart
Gold - Amelie Tsang
Junior Mens Foil Team
Silver - Dario Stenbeck-Schiavo
Silver - David Williams
Cadet Womens Foil
Gold - Amelie Tsang
Cadet Mens Foil
Gold - David Sosnov
20th Leo Lim (SGP)
Cadet Mens Foil Team
Silver - David Sosnov
Senior Womens Foil
Amelie Tsang started well in the round of poules and was ranked second and Teagan Williams-Stewart was ranked 7th. Amelie lost 14-15 in her quarter final to Tay Yu-Ling of Singapore. Teagan, on the other hand, found her rhythm and powered into the final against compatriot and defending champion, Kate Beardmore (ENG). Unfortunately for Teagan, Beardmore was too strong on the day, and lost 12-15. Congratulations to Teagan for winning silver and setting off a chain of wonderful events….!
Senior Mens Foil
ZFW found itself in unfamiliar territory with only one representative for this event. It is quality not quantity and Harry Bird did not disappoint. He warmed up during the round of poules and was ranked 6th. Then things began to heat up. Harry despatched two Northern Irish and a Canadian fencer to reach the semi-final against his team mate, Kamal Minott (ENG). Harry came out strong and it was a very closely contested match. Harry lead from the start to win 15-14. Harry earned himself a place in the final against another England fencer, Glen Ostacchini (ENG). The final was full of drama, aggression, red cards, medical breaks, going off the back line, and yo-yoing scores: Harry went 1-4 down, then 10-5 up and then 11-13 down before bringing it level at 14-14. Ostacchini thought he had won but the hit was overturned on video; Harry eventually emerged victorious with an attack on preparation. Commonwealth Champion 2022! This is fencing!
Alex “Toffee” Tofalides and Chris Nagel, both fencing for Cyprus, brought the most passionate and vocal supporters to town! Toffee finished 5th after a scintillating match reminiscent of the “good old days” against rival and friend Keith Cook (SCO). The grandstand crowd cheered for all they were worth and entertainment was the clear winner when Cook pipped Toffee to a 15-14 nail biting conclusion. Chris finished 26th.
Senior Womens Foil Team
England, being the number one seed and favourite, progressed easily into the finals beating India 45-26 and Canada 45-27 along the way. Both Teagan and Amelie performed brilliantly. In the final, Scotland took an early lead 8-12 but this was magnificently reversed by Amelie to a 22-16 lead for England; the damage was done and England ran out winners 45-34.
Senior Mens Foil Team
England were again number one seeds and clear favourites. True to form, England swept past everyone with relative ease to win gold: Cyprus 45-19, Malaysia 45-23 and Scotland 45-23 in the final. Harry continued his rich vein of form with clear wins and outstanding performances in his matches.
Junior Womens Foil
Two of the favourites, Teagan and Amelie, managed to avoid each other after the round of poules. Teagan topped the table with Amelie placed third. Both fencers eased their way into the final where Teagan triumphed over Amelie 15-11. So nice to see gold and silver for ZFW fencers.
Junior Mens Foil
With three ZFW fencers fencing for England and one for Singapore, with some even dreaming of locking out the podium. After mixed results in the poules, it was all to play for: David Williams 4th, Dario Stenbeck-Schiavo 7th, David Sosnov 23rd; and Leo Lim (SGP) 21st. Leo was first to go out after losing to Golgan (AUS) 7-15. Dario and David Sosnov were unfortunate to meet each other in the round of the last 16 fencers with Dario coming out on top 15-12. David Williams held his nerve in a tense match to edge Jarvie (SCO) 15-14 but fell in the semi-final to British Junior Champion, Jamie Cook (SCO), 6-15. Dario lost to the European cadet team silver medallist, Penman (SCO), in his semi-final 9-15. So two bronze medals for ZFW fencers.
Junior Womens Foil Team
With Teagan and Amelie leading the line, England were clear favourites to take gold. They duly delivered with resounding victories over N Ireland 45-9, Scotland 45-21 and the final against Australia 45-21. Two more gold for ZFW fencers!
Junior Mens Foil Team
Bronze medallists in the individual competition Dario and David Williams were selected to represent England in the team event. They were seeded second behind the powerful Scots possessing the gold and silver medallists from the individual event. Both teams breezed into the finals. England overcame India 45-29 and Canada 45-34 on their way. In the final, England started nervously with Scotland opening up an early 5 point lead after each of the first 3 rounds until David Williams steadied the ship with some inspired fencing closing the deficit to 2 points in rounds 4 and 7 bringing the score to 28-30. In the end, Scotland managed to close out the match 37-41 in front of a packed boisterous grandstand. An upgrade of their bronze to two more silvers for ZFW fencers.
Cadet Womens Foil
Amelie ended the poule round comfortably and progressed steadily through the next rounds beating Stokes (AUS) 15-2, HU (SCO) 15-3 and Schofield (SCO) 15-5. In the semi-final Amelie faced teammate Johnson (ENG), a stern test as Amelie went 3-10 down but recovered to win 15-11. In the final she faced Seigel, to whom she earlier had lost 1-4 in the poules but overturned that result with a 15-8 win. An individual gold for Amelie.
Cadet Mens Foil
David Sosnov began his day by storming the poule round winning every fight in his poule and dropping just seven hits. Leo fencing for Singapore won 3 fights and lost 2; he was ranked 18th but then exited when he lost to Chen (CAN) 8-15. David continued his good form in the next rounds beating Kingsbury (JER) 15-4, Tian (CAN) 15-9, Kamalanathan (MAS) 15-8 and Campbell-Yates (ENG) 15-2. The final against Thomas Walton (SCO) was, unfortunately, stopped early because of a clash of heads. Walton could not continue and David was declared the victor and champion.
Cadet Mens Foil Team
England progressed into the final with victories against Wales 45-24 and Malaysia 45-28. The real test was against Scotland whose team included Cook (SCO) and Penman (SCO), both finalists in the Juniors and winners of the Junior team competition. This proved to be the case as Scotland overwhelmed England 45-35 despite an excellent performance from David and his team mates. Team silver for England.
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