Fencer takes prize scalps - Journal, Thursday 25th July 2002
RICHARD Brenda was the winner of the mixed sabre event at the Norfolk
Open Fencing Competition held in Norwich this weekend.
Richard was in second place after the preliminary rounds of the competition
and fought hard to convincingly defeat several highly-ranked opponents.
Richard, aged 16 and formerly a pupil at Alcester High School, knocked
his older brother David, a pupil at King Edward VI School in Stratford,
into third place before going on to comfortably beat Jim Crawfurd, an
experienced senior fencer from Bristol, 15-11 in the final.
Richard demonstrated a variety of well-executed parry ripostes to outfence
his final opponent.
Richard's twin brother Thomas, also a former pupil at Alcester High School,
had previously been knocked into fifth place by Crawfurd.
The three brothers, fencing as Team Brenda, were joined in the competition
by father Paul and younger brother Christopher, aged 13 and a pupil at
Alcester High.
Christopher fought well against more experienced opposition and managed
to edge his father, in only his second competition, into 24th place. Christopher
finished 23rd.
The five members of Team Brenda will be fencing together in the first
major competition of next season, The Hamlet Open, held at King Edward
VI School in Stratford on Saturday, September 7. Spectators are welcome.
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Bronze for Johnson as King Edward fencers win plaudits - Stratford Standard, 19 July 2002
The King Edward VI School fencing team enjoyed a successful British Open Sabre Championships at the weekend by reaching the quarter-finals for the second year running.
Captain Robin Allen, 17, of Stratford, Pip Nicolson, 17, of Pebworth, Mike Stone, 16, of Wellesbourne and Peter Kirby, 17, of Evesham, beat Devon in the preliminary round to be seeded seventh for the event at RAF Cosford. They were narrowly beaten by North London 45-44, with the opposition having Peter Wright - who had just returned from captaining Great Britain in the World Masters Championships in Germany.
The KES boys went into the elimination round to meet the second seeds from the Centre of Excellence, based at Durham University. The match was close at 25-23, but he North East fencers pulled away to win 45-36.
Stratford had another team in the quarter finals - the Brenda family from Alcester - who created a record by becoming the first team to enter as a family.
Competing under the Stratford fencing club banner the brothers Richard & Tom - both 16 that day - and David 17, beat Ireland 45-20 but lost to the Durham Centre 45-37.
This took them to a place in the eliminations as number eight seeds, but they were pitted against the reigning champions London Thames Fencing Club - a team comprised entirely of members of the British national teams including Stratford fencer Will Garrity, 19, from Chipping Campden - and were beaten in the last eight.
The club were also celebrating after Mike Johnson won the bronze medal in the men's sabre individual championships at the British fencing Championships.
The 22 year old Stratford man - now at Portsmouth University - began his fencing at King Edward VI School, which also produced Louise Bond-Williams, 20 - who became the British women's sabre fencing champion.
The Stratford fencers also produced some outstanding results from their younger rising fencing stars. On top form was Richard Brenda, 15, who was the top placed cadet in these open championships.
He beat18th seed Daniel Kerr, 28, from London, to come 15th and maintain pole position as Britain's number one cadet (under 17) sabre fencer.
His brother Tom, also 15, fought though to the round before and took 19th place. Chipping Campden School sixth former Peter Kirby, 17, from Evesham, was 22nd.
On the way he met Richard Cohen, 59, from London, who holds the magnificent record of gaining the final tableau of every British championships for 25 years, as well as being an ex-British champion. Kirby had met and beaten him at the same stage last year aged 16.
King Edward VI School put up David Brenda and Robin Allen, both 17, who made solid last 64 positions (39th & 40th) after winning four of their six preliminary fights.
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KES Coach is Master of Fencing
- King Edward VI School Newsletter - July 2002
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KES's coach for the past 16 years, David Kirby, has been away (in case you didn't notice) for the last three months. He has been on an international coaches' training course in Hungary at the Semmelweis TF University in Budapest, a college with a world reputation for sport and sport science degrees. The outcome was that after 12 weeks of hard work on the end of a pen and a sword, and six exams, he now has the diploma of the International Fencing Master. For purists, this means that the school now has a Maître d'Escrime on the staff for the first time since Bob Anderson left over 20 years ago. KES fencers' motto "Both by our pen and our sword do we measure our might" seems to have been upheld again! |
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KES Hosts Ridley Martin Cup
- King Edward VI School Newsletter -
July 2002
KES hosted the Ridley Martin Cup for men and women sabre fencers on 11 May in the Levi Fox Hall. The day saw 48 fencers from all over Britain and even one from Spain competing in the hall. The Ridley Martin is an open event, but with entry restricted to those who have not won it before or made the quarterfinals of the national championships and two other major international events held over here. Even so, the standard can be pretty fierce.
Robin Allen, David Brenda, Tom Musgrave, Aaron Fox, Mike Turner and David Musgrave represented KES. Being an open event the entry is also restricted to those over 13, which ruled out many of the KES boys. Robin came 3rd, only being knocked out by the eventual winner from Spain, Santiago Vila Moreno. David Brenda made the quarterfinals and Tom Musgrave a fine last 16 place.
The next home event for the fencers will be the first full open event of the new season on Saturday 7 September, just after the start of term. The parents, once again, will be putting the show together so that the boys can go "out to play". Actually, the Hamlet, as it's called, is one of the top five competitions of the year and is certainly one of the favourite events for sabre fencers throughout the country. With the men's event starting at 9.30 and the women's at 10.30, there will be excellent fencing on show all day. Probably the best time to pop in and see our fencers in action will be in the first round pools at about 10 a.m. or when the elimination gets going at about 11.30. The next set of KES fencers will be doing their first open event. These are year 9 boys who have been too young for the opens last season. Come and support them.
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Twins hit the target in Bristol - Standard, Friday 14th June 2002
Twins Thomas and Richard Brenda claimed the top two places in an under 17 sabre fencing competition at Bristol over the weekend. The 15 year old brothers, both pupils at Alcester High School, are currently placed first and second in the National under 17 rankings and Thomas is the reigning England champion.
Both boys experienced easy victories in the preliminary rounds and went into the elimination rounds as first and second seeds. They then easily despatched their opponents until they reached the semi-finals where, true to the form book, they met the third and fourth nationally ranked fencers.
Richard had a difficult fight against the agile and very fast Harry Moncrieff from Scotland.
They traded hit for hit all the way before Richard's greater control and experience gave him the edge and earned 15-14 success.
Thomas had an easier fight against Alex O'Connell from Brentwood. O'Connell, an outstanding 14 year old fencer who is ranked fourth nationally at under 17 level, lacked the tactical ability of the more experienced Thomas who simply waited for an attack before beating his opponent back and he eventually triumphed 15-10.
In the family final the boys won equal hits to all other parts of the body except the sword arm where Thomas' natural advantage as a left-hander enabled him to hit Richard often enough to secure 15-12 success.
The boys' next outing is to the National senior championships in July at which they will be competing against members of the 2000 Olympic team.
Click here to see pics from Bristol Cadet Sabre
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Top quality opponents don't faze local fighters - Stratford Journal, Thursday 11 April 2002
FOUR local fencers, Will Garrity from Chipping Campden, Robin Allen from Stratford, Peter Kirby from North Littleton, and Louise Bond-Williams from Ebrington have just finished competing in the Junior and Cadet World Championships.
Garrity came 24th in the men's junior sabre, winning four out of his six pool fights. He then beat the Korean Joo Yeol Han 15-8 in the first round of the Direct Elimination to reach the last 32.
His next opponent was Collin Parker from the United States, a gold medal winner in the Junior World Cup in 2000 and a bronze medallist in the 1999 World Championships. The result was 15-10 to the American.
Kirby finished 38th in the Cadet men's Sabre and 68th in the junior event fighting above his age group. Robin Allen finished 57th in the Cadet men's Sabre.
Bond-Williams came second and collected the silver medal in the women's junior Sabre. She won five of her six pool fights and had a bye into the last 32. She then fought the Cuban Madrigal Lastre, who she had lost to in Cuba earlier this year, winning 15-4.
She then fenced one of British team colleague, Jessica Lacheta, winning 15-4 to take her into the quarter-finals where she met top-seeded Chinese Xue Chn Tan, and won 15-13.
Sada Jacobson from the United States was her next opponent. Jacobson had beaten her two weeks before in the final of the American Universities Championships.
This time the Cotswolds girl started well, going 8-2 up at the break. The American then won 12 of the next 15 points to lead 14-11.
Bond-Williams had a problem with her sabre at this point, changed her weapon and levelled the fight at 14-14. She then attacked vigorously for the deciding point and won 15-14.
The final was much quieter with the Chinese girl, Ying Ying Bao, winning 15 -7 leaving the Ebrington teenager with the silver medal.
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