The University’s fencers had their best result in years at the BUCS Individual Fencing Championships in Nottingham.  The team managed four out of six finals across all three weapons, collecting an impressive two gold and two silver medals, the best result of any of the Universities present.  All the Bristol medal winners are part of the University’s advanced sports squad.

Newby Matt Billing had an inspired day beating David Alexander from Loughborough in the semi final and giving Ahmed Rosowsky (number 9 in the senior British foil rankings) a good fight, scoring more points than any other competitor, with a final score of 7-15 to claim silver in the Men’s foil.

Woman’s captain Naomi Taylor had a rough start in the epee but soon picked up her game cruising to the final where she beat Freya Hall from Sheffield University 15–12 to obtain the first gold of the weekend. 

In the Woman’s foil PHD Anna Robinson had no one to match her game and duly disposed of the opposition until she reached the final.  There she faced Hanna Briers from Imperial who managed to steal the lead.  At the end the gap proved too great to pull back and Anna had to console herself with second place.  Final score 15-10.

Finally in the Men’s Sabre defending Champion Francesco Egro reached the semi finals after a close match against Tristan Rowcliffe from Northumbria winning 15-14 on the last hit.  This was not the last close match for the Italian who then went on to beat Imperial’s Maiyuran Ratneswaren 15-13 to reach the final.  There he faced Harry Moncreiff from Edinburgh.  Not happy with two close fights Francesco left it until he was 12-14 down to pull back three consecutive points stealing victory and collecting Bristol’s second gold medal.

All this was made easier by the presence of our coach Neil Brown, who travelled all the way to Nottingham to support and provide vital guidance to the team.
The rest of the fencing team present was made up of Mhairi Threlfall, Grace France, Hatty Mills, Nick Chan, Mark Caldwell and Captain Roberto Pinto-Ward.

Congratulations to the Bristol women's first team who after fencing well all year made it to the semi finals of the BUSA knockouts.