Saturday 21 February Competition Day 5

Final day of competition with the team fencing, Women's Foil (no team, Men's Epee and Men's Sabre).

All events were started at the same time. Fortunately Men's Sabre was split in to two waves, with NZ vs Malaysia in the second wave.

Men's Epee:
NZ lost the toss with Wales so were fencing on the bottom of the score sheet (fencers 4, 5 and 6). The Welsh began with their best fencer and and took a small 2 hit lead, which extended to a 7 hit lead over the next two bouts. At the end of the third bout we were being led by Wales 15-8. A brilliant epee display was given by Chris (The Dish) Bell who returned to the piste, demolishing their number 3 fencer. He scored 12 hits for only four received and positioned NZ with a 1 hit lead, 20-19. The Welsh immediately responded by substituting that fencer.

In the subsequent bouts the Welsh then increased their lead once again putting on a further 14 points for New Zealand's 5. In the second to last bout with the score at 25-33 for Wales, Chris (The Dish) Bell again worked his magic, 13 hits for only 7 received. He closed the score to a 2 hit margin, 38-40 for Wales, who maintained and improved that in the final bout, beating NZ 45-41.

Men's Sabre:
The men's sabre team, 7th seed against the 2nd seed Malaysia. The New Zealanders fenced valiently, the clearly superior team. The victory was in no doubt with Malaysia winning 45-16. The internationally recognised sabre referee made the comment that the New Zealand Sabreurs had quite good hands, were clear with the blade, but were let down by poor footwork skills and need to put a lot more time and effort in to the developing the quality of their footwork with high volume of quality training so they can move smoothly, quickly and accurately.

The final team events were passionate, intense and loud. All three finals were fenced simultaneously, which made videoing interesting. Men's sabre was the first to finish, with England beating Malaysia, then the Men's Epee had a last bout begin, locked at 40-40 between England and Malaysia, with Malaysia coming out the victors. In the Women's Foil Scotland decisvely beat Wales.















And all that is left is the Final Function in our hotel's ballroom tonight. Hats, tee-shirt and tracksuit swapping is still in full swing. So more to follow ... see you later ... I have a ball to go to.