Canada’s Gabriella Page Defeats the 2018 World Champion in the 2109 Senior World Championships

Women’s sabre and men’s foil were in action today at the 2019 Senior World Fencing Championships in Budapest and Canada had more breakthrough performances on this last day of Individual finals. Canada had four athletes who qualified for the final rounds, Gabriella Page in women’s sabre and Maximilien Van Haaster, Eli Schenkel and Blake Broszus in men’s foil.

The day started off strong with Gabriella Page (Blainville, QC) defeating the 2018 World Championship gold medalist in her first bout. Page faced Russian Sofia Pozdniakova, currently ranked third in the world and last year’s world champion in this event, and came out strong, defeating the Russian by a score of 15-9. Page’s next bout was against India’s Bhavani Chadalavada Anandha Sundhararaman. It was a very tight bout until the end, with Page unfortunately losing 15-14 to end her day in 32nd position.

Both Eli Schenkel (Canadian living in the US) and Maximilien Van Haaster (Montreal, QC) won their first bout in the 64’s. Schenkel defeated Julien Mertine of France 15-12, while Van Haaster defeated eighth seed Erwann Le Pechoux from France 15-10. Both athletes struggled to carry the momentum to the next round. Schenkel faced Kwanghyun Lee from Korea and lost 15-8, while Van Haaster fenced Michal Siess of Poland and lost 15-7. Van Haaster finished 32nd overall while Schenkel was 25th. Blake Broszus lost his first bout to Sholto Douglas of Australia 15-6 to finish in 45th place overall.

Canada’s Women’s Epee and Men’s Sabre Teams were also in action today. Canada’s women’s epee team of Leonora Mackinnon (Newbury, UK), Malinka Hoppe Montanaro (Montreal, QC), Ariane Leonard (St-Lambert, QC) and Alexanne Verret (Quebec, QC), ranked 16th faced the number one seed USA in their first bout. Canada lost 45-25 and then went into the 9-16 ranking bouts where they faced Germany. Canada lost 45-39 to Germany and 45-37 to Hungary but defeated Hong Kong to finish in 15th place overall.

Canada’s Men’s Sabre team of Shaul Gordon (Richmond, BC), Joseph Polossifakis (Laval, QC), Fares Arfa (Laval, QC), and Marc Gelinas (Blainville, QC) faced 4th seed Germany in their first bout. Canada led early in the bout but fell behind and almost came back in the end but lost 45-42 to be relegated to the 9-16 ranking bouts where they faced Team Japan and lost 45-42. Canada then fenced and lost to Great Britain followed by Egypt to finish in 16th place overall.