Fencing – Pan American Championships
Joshua McGuire wins silver
Teisseire third
Montreal, August 27, 2007 (Sportcom) – Joshua McGuire of Montreal and Nicolas Teisseire of Boucherville, Que., finished second and third in the men’s foil event at the Pan American fencing championships being held at Mont-Tremblant, Que. In women’s epee, Julie Leprohon of Trois-Rivieres, Que., was sixth.
Catherine Dunnette of Alberta, ranked 26th in the world won the women’s epee event defeating Kelley Hurley of the U.S., 4-3 in the final. Sherraine Schalm, also of Alberta and ranked seventh in the world, was third.
In men’s foil, Gerek Meinhardt of the U.S., won gold defeating in succession Teisseire 15-10 and McGuire 15-14.
National team coach Dominique Teisseire said Meinhardt was aggressive from the start against his Canadian opponents.
Earlier Monday, McGuire, ranked 16th in the world, won all his matches in the preliminary round while Teisseire, ranked 42nd, earned two victories in five bouts.
Marek Wojcik and Julien Gaudreau-Pollender, both of Quebec, were eliminated in the round of 16 placing 13th and 14th. Wojcik was 2-3 in the prelims then lost 12-5 to Jonathan Tiomkin of the U.S., who lost to McGuire in the semifinals. Gaudreau-Pollender (2-4 in prelims) lost 15-9 to Carlos Rodriguez of Venezuela who was eliminated in the next round by Teisseire 15-13.
‘’Marek spends too much time studying his opponents and doesn’t take enough risks,’’ said Dominique Teisseire. ‘’His attack isn’t explosive enough. In the five-point preliminary bouts, a couple of times, he led 4-1 in the final minute and wasn’t able to get that fifth point. You can’t be hesitant at that point.’’
‘’As for Julien his attacks lacked variety,’’ said Teisseire. ‘’His footing was slow and he struggles to keep his distance. However Julien is a junior in a senior tournament and will be a junior again next year while Rodriguez is a tough opponent.’’
Leprohon determined
Leprohon, ranked 82nd internationally, was 4-1 in the preliminaries and lost in the quarterfinals to Schalm.
‘’I did well in my pool,’’ said Leprohon. ‘’The competition is deep so four wins in the first round is satisfying. It’s also an important tournament and there’s constant pressure. I felt I did a good job managing my stress.
‘’Against Sherraine I lost the lead in the second period and wasn’t able to comeback. She’s comfortable defensively. I had to get points which is hard and risky.’’
Leprohon, 26, is determined to do shine at the worlds championships next month in St. Petersburg, Russia. Until then, she’ll train with the Canadian epee team at a training camp in Hungary.
The Pan American championships continue until August 31 at Mont-Tremblant. The competition counts towards the Canadian fencing team’s Olympic selection process.
Scheduled for Tuesday is the men’s epee and women’s sabre. Canadians scheduled to compete are Igor Tikhomirov, Tars Bakos, Tigran Bajgoric et Tomy Linteau in epee, as well as Sandra Sassine, Julie Cloutier, Olga Ovtchinnikova and Wendy Saschenbrecker in sabre.
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