USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – With the first World Cup of the new season nearly three months away, Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) got his 2013-2014 campaign off to a good start with a silver medal finish at the World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Ranked as one of the top 10 men’s foil fencers in the world, Imboden’s first opponent was Rostyslav Hertsyk – the Ukrainian who upset Imboden in the table of 16 at the Senior World Championships in August.

Imboden avenged the loss with a 15-9 victory and faced little challenge in the quarter-finals as he defeated 2012 Olympic silver medalist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (EGY), 15-6.

The semifinals would be an all-American showdown between Imboden and his teammate, Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.), who became the first U.S. man ever to win individual gold at the Senior Worlds in Budapest.

Following his wins over Siu Lun Cheung (HKG) and Erwan Le Pechoux (FRA), Chamley-Watson scored first against Imboden in the semifinals, but injured his back shortly thereafter and Imboden held his teammate to just two touches as he won the bout, 15-3.

Imboden kept the gold medal final close early in the bout, but Richard Kruse (GBR) went on a seven-touch run to take gold, 15-4.

Chamley-Watson decided not to withdraw from the tournament due to his injury and returned to the finals strip to take on Artur Akhmatkhuzin (RUS) in a rematch of their gold medal final from Senior Worlds.

Fencing in front of a home crowd, the Russian led the bout, 14-9, but Chamley-Watson fought back to score three touches before Akhmatkhuzin finished the bout, 15-12.

The women’s epee competition also was held on Saturday with Emese Szasz (HUN) defeating Julia Beljajeva (EST), 15-4, in the gold medal final. Team USA did not have an entrant in the event.

Visit www.worldcombatgames.com for complete results.

Top eight and results are as follows:

World Combat Games Men’s Foil
1. Richard Kruse (GBR)
2. Race Imoden (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
3. Artur Akhmatkhuzin (RUS)
4. Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.)
5. Alexey Cheremisinov (RUS)
6. Peter Joppich (GER)
7. Erwan Le Pechoux (FRA)
8. Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (EGY)

World Combat Games Women’s Epee
1. Emese Szasz (HUN)
2. Julia Beljajeva (EST)
3. Anqi Xu (CHN)
4. Ana Branza (ROU)
5. Anna Sivkova (RUS)
6. A Lam Shin (KOR)
7. Irina Embrich (EST)
8. Violetta Kolobova (RUS)