The Americans dominate

 

Montreal, August 28, 2007 (Sportcom) – Sandra Sassine of Montreal won the bronze medal in women’s sabre on Tuesday at the Pan American fencing championships being held at Mont-Tremblant, Que. She defeated Julie Cloutier of Repentigny, Que., 15-4 in the quarterfinal then lost 15-6 in the semifinal to Rebecca Ward of the U.S.

 

Ward, currently ranked number-one in the world, took the gold beating compatriot Sada Jacobson 15-7. Jacobson is the world number-four. Mariel Zagunis, also from the U.S., and ranked third in the world earned the other bronze.

 

‘’I was very confident against her because we had close battles in our previous two matches,’’ said Sassine. I felt good at the start but she gained momentum when she earned three consecutive points at the halfway point. She controlled the match after that.’’

 

Sassine, ranked 32nd in the world, posted five wins and a loss in the preliminaries then beat Giselle Martinez Elizalde of Mexico 15-6 before her bout against Cloutier.

 

‘’It’s unfortunate to face a compatriot but that’s part of the competition,’’ said Sassine, 27. ‘’Since we know each other so well was I was focused and intense.’’

 

Wendy Saschenbrecker of Montreal and Ontario’s Olga Ovtchnnikova were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Jacobson and Zagunis respectively.

 

Sassine’s world ranking will climb to number-23 with her performance. ‘’I’m very pleased with my day. The points I accumulated increase my lead in the Olympic qualification,’’ she said.

 

 

In men’s epee, Tomy Linteau of Quebec City was seventh. He lost in the quarterfinal to Weston Kelsey of the U.S. Kelsey went on to win the silver losing to Silvio Fernandez of Venezuela in the final. Cody Mattern of the U.S., and Budinic Inostroza of Chile were the bronze medallists.

 

Linteau started slowly in the prelims posting a 2-3 record. He then defeated Tarsh Bakos of Saskatchewan 15-10.

 

‘’I’ve only beaten Tarsh once in the last four years,’’ said Linteau. ‘’I couldn’t have timed this victory any better. It keeps my hopes alive for a spot on the Olympic team and assures financial assistance for my next competitions. It gave me a lot of confidence for the match against Kelsey. But he was tough. Physically and emotionally I was there but my fencing wasn’t.’’

 

The Pan American championships continue until August 31 at Mont-Tremblant. The competition counts towards the Canadian fencing team’s Olympic selection process.

The men’s sabre and women’s foil is scheduled for Wednesday. Canadians in action are Michel Boulos, Nicolas Mayer, Philippe Beaudry and Mark Peros in men’s sabre. In women’s foil, it’s Élise Daoust, Jugie Luan, Annie-Claude Therrien and Monica Kwan.