Fencing - Pan American Championships
Canadian women’s sabre team on track for Olympic berth
Historic 45-41 victory over Venezuela
Montreal, August 30, 2007 (Sportcom) – The Canadian women’s sabre team took a giant step towards qualifying for the Olympic Games on Thursday with a 45-42 victory over top rival Venezuela in the semifinals. The Canadian team members were Sandra Sassine, Julie Cloutier, Olga Ovtchinnikova and Wendy Saschenbrecker.
The Canadians lost in the final to the U.S., 45-30 to win the silver medal. Venezuela defeated Argentina 45-39 in the third place bout.
Venezuela now needs to produce an exceptional performance at the world championships next month in Russia to dethrone Canada for the Olympic spot.
‘’The Venezuelans were as determined as we were,’’ said Sassine, the Canadian team captain. ‘’They were aggressive and intense so we couldn’t give them an inch. I’m proud of my teammates. We reached our goal and now we can fully prepare for the worlds.’’
Eight countries are contending for Olympic berths in women’s team sabre. The top-four in the world rankings gain an automatic spot along with the top ranked country from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Since the U.S., is already ranked number-one in the world, the next best ranked country in the Americas gets the spot.
‘’We’re not only satisfied that we attained our goal but pleased with how we reached it,’’ said assistant coach Ildemaro Sanchez. ‘’The girls performed to the best of their abilities. If they continue to improve we’ll have a very strong international ranking.’’
‘’Our main goal was to beat Venezuela,’’ said coach Jean-Marie Banos. ‘’It’s a start and our team showed a lot of promise. Sandra is playing a leadership role and that’s producing strong results. Ildemaro puts together solid game plans. We now have a comfortable 40 point lead on Venezuela in the world rankings. The next goal is to reel in some big European squads like Germany and Hungary.
‘’But we must be realistic in respect to the Americans. We can beat them in certain matches but we’re still a step behind. With hard work our girls will improve leading up to the Olympics. For the worlds, we’re going to focus on strategy and fitness.’’
Gold in epee and foil
Canada’s women’s epee team won the gold medal with Julie Leprohon of Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Sherraine Schalm, Catherine Dunnette and Ainsley Switzer, all of Alberta. They defeated the U.S., 38-35 in the final. Venezuela won the bronze. In men’s foil, Joshua McGuire, Marek Wocjik, Nicolas Teissere and Julien Gaudreau-Pollender, all of Quebec, beat the Americans 45-40 in the championship final. Both Canadian squads assured themselves strong international rankings heading into the worlds.
‘’We followed our game plan,’’ said Leprohon. ‘’We stayed patient and waited for our opponents to make mistakes. Even when they scored points we kept focused on our strategy. Our team performs well when everyone stays focused. It’s a well-derserved gold.’’
The women’s epee and men’s foil team events are not on the Olympic program but are scheduled for the 2012 Games in London.
‘’I’m extremely satisfied with the foil team’s performance because they posted a second victory against the U.S.,’’ said Dominique Teissere, the national foil coach. ‘’The first time was by one point at the 2006 Pan American Championships. This year it was a more convincing win. The match was close to the halfway point and we even trailed but Nicolas and Joshua turned it around with strong performances. With the win we should be ranked about 10th in the world. That’s promising for 2012 with a young team.’’
Scheduled for Friday are the team events in men’s sabre and epee and women’s foil. Canadians in action are Michel Boulos, Nicolas Mayer, Philippe Beaudry and Mark Peros in sabre; Élise Daoust, Jujie Luan, Annie-Claude Therrien and Monica Kwan in women’s foil; and Igor Tikhomirov, Tars Bakos, Tigran Bajgoric and Tomy Linteau in men’s epee.
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