BRITISH JUNIORS STAND OUT IN SERBIA

The British Junior Men’s and Women’s Epee squads shone brightly in Nova Sad, Serbia at the European Junior Epee Championships.

16 year old Alec Brooke took silver in the Junior (U20) men’s individual tournament while still a cadet (U17), a full report can be found here.

Following his success in the individual event he then joined his teammates James Jeal, Jacob Mitchell, Joe Walmsley in the team event to take the silver medal.

The Epee Club congratulates the whole team and coaching staff (which includes EC member Ian Lichfield) for their dedication and hard work which has resulted in these excellent medal winning positions.

Meanwhile the Women’s Junior Epee squad arrived in Nova Sad just as the conflict in Ukraine began and were likely to be the first team to meet Russia. Following an emergency Board meeting on February 28th, British Fencing (BF) issued a statement condemning the invasion of Ukraine and stating that GBR fencing athletes would not fence Russian or Belarusian fencers either as an individual or as a team until further notice.

(L-R Caron, Lebor, Bulman, Lever with coach Rees. Image by British Fencing)

Demonstrating BF’s values of respect, honesty and excellence, the Junior Women Epeeists chose to fence to the best of their ability against Austria before standing down in a respectful and non-confrontational way from their match with Russia.

EC member and BF’s Chief Executive Georgina Usher was quick to acknowledge the importance of the actions of the epeeists, Imogen Bulman, Julia Caron, Hannah Lebor and Rachael Lever. In a letter to the athletes she said, “Representing your country is about so much more than performance and results. Today’s events have demonstrated the courage needed by athletes to stand up and be counted in the wider context of the world that we live in”. A full report from British Fencing can be found here.

The Epee Club fully supports the statement released by BF, the comments of the Chief Executive in relation to the actions of the Junior Women’s Epee Team and the sacrifices made. We believe their decision reflects the values and ethics of our fencing community.