Wales are fourth in Junior Commonwealths

Carl Difford on 26/03/2012

Wales emerged from the Junior Commonwealth Championships in Jersey last month with only runaway winners England securing more medals than them.

There were no gold medals but two individual bronzes and three team successes, including two silvers, lifted Wales to fourth place out of the 14 competing countries.

South Wales success came in the form of Cardiff’s George Hawksworth, who finished third of the 40-strong field in the men’s individual epee. This was matched in the women’s epee by Rebecca Thomas.

Solid performances in the individual competition ensured a good seeding for the men’s sabre team and they had comfortable victories over Guernsey and India before giving hot favourites England a run for their money as they went down just 45-41 in the final.

The women’s epee team also finished with silver, defeating Australia and Guernsey – shock victors over Scotland – before losing to England in the final.

The women’s sabre outfit had a thumping 45-7 win over Guernsey but then suffered a disappointing 45-42 defeat to India before picking themselves up to win the bronze-medal play-off against Singapore.

The men’s epee team lost their bronze-medal match with Scotland, and it was a similar story for the men’s foil team against Australia, while the women’s foil team ended up fifth.

Meanwhile, just a day after returning from Jersey, George Hawksworth was back in action in Cardiff, where he defended his O’Sullivan Cup title in the annual mixed epee competition hosted by Whitchurch Fencing Club.

Welsh fencers’ individual results from Junior Commonwealth Championships:

Men’s epee: 3, George Hawksworth; 11, Tom Edwards; 19, Will Sturgeon; 33, Dan Arnold.
Men’s foil: 8, Glen Ostacchini; 13, Steven Williams; 36, Ethan Ridsdale; 39, Scott Ostacchini; 45, George Orchart.

Men’s sabre: 7, James Potter; 11, Nathan Potter; 15, Griff Williams; 27, Stuart Dixon.
Women’s epee: 3, Rebecca Thomas; 11, Molly Jowsey; 18, Fiona Harris.

Women’s foil: 11, Stephanie Collister; 14, Elen Tomlinson.

Women’s sabre: 5, Harriet Dixon; 6, Megan Lillycrop; 10, Tess Norejko.

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