By finishing 11th in the men’s saber team competition, Canadian fencers improved their fortunes in terms of eventual Olympic qualification at the Paris Games. Thursday, at the World Championships presented in Milan, Farès Arfa, Olivier Desrosiers, François Cauchon and Shaul Gordon had the feeling of having accomplished their duty.
After taking advantage of a bye in the first round, the Maple Leaf representatives got the better of Kuwait 45-31. The task was then more difficult in the round of 16 against France who won 45-25.
The Canadians posted their second victory of the day in their first classification game, 45-40 against Ukraine, lost 45-41 against Iran and ended the day on a high note by defeating Georgia 45-38 in the game for 11th place.
“We supported each other, we worked hard and we played our roles. The young people [Desrosiers and Cauchon] were there to gain experience and put in the energy, while we, Shaul and I, were there to guide the energy and motivate them to go for this result,” said supported Arfa.
The veteran did not take part in the last match due to a knee injury. On the sidelines, he said he was impressed by the work of Desrosiers and Cauchon. According to the Lavallois, it was above all the victory against Ukraine that changed the situation for his team.
“It was the most important game because if we won it, it guaranteed us a better place than last year [13th]. We were still pissed off from our loss to France and there we fought from start to finish and channeled all that energy into performance. »
“If the Americans stay in the top 4 and we are in the top 16, which we managed to do, we will also go to the Olympics as a team. And that’s the goal we had at the start of the season. […] We will try to stay calm, but we will subtly encourage the United States,” the fencer concluded jokingly, adding that he will now allow himself a month’s rest before resuming training in view of the pre-Olympic year which officially began on Wednesday.
In the women’s epee team draw, Alexanne Verret, Marie-Frédérique Millette, Leonora Mackinnon and Ruien Xiao finished their day in 14th place.
They first signed a 34-32 victory against Spain in the round of 32 and then lost 45-30 against Italy. Once in the ladder matches, they went down 45-29 against Estonia, beat Sweden 45-40 and lost 45-31 to Japan.
