Fencing – Pan American Championships
Canada wins gold in men’s epee
Michel Boulos shines in men’s sabre
Montreal, August 31, 2007 (Sportcom) – Canada’s men’s epee team won the gold medal on Friday at the Pan American fencing championships at Mont-Tremblant. The Canadians defeated the U.S., in the semifinals and Venezuela by one point in the final.
The members of the Canadian team were Tomy Linteau, Igor Tikhomirov, Tars Bakos and Tigran Bajgoric. Their strategy was to stick to the game plan and be disciplined in a fierce battle that could impact an Olympic qualification. They were able to keep the score close until the end before going for the final kill. Linteau scored the winning point in overtime.
‘’There was a lot of tension,’’ said Linteau after the final. ‘’They are a very strong team. I’m very pleased with my match against Limardo. He couldn’t score against me and I was able to score three consecutive points.’’
Speaking of pressure, Linteau says he thrives when the match is on the line. ‘’I fight better when I’m stressed and when there is a lot of pressure. When things are going well I dose off.’’
Danek Nowosielski, the high performance director for the Canadian Fencing Federation was thrilled with the men’s epee team’s win. ‘’With that win they are back in contention for an Olympic berth,’’ he said. ‘’They’ll climb the world rankings and get a better draw at the world championships next month in Russia where they’ll want to crack the top-eight. They could potentially face the U.S., or Venezuela for a top-eight finish which would be exciting. With today’s win anything is possible.’’
Men’s sabre wins silver
Michel Boulos showed why he is Canada’s top athlete in men’s sabre. In the final against the U.S., he made an amazing comeback against world number-seven Ivan Lee.
The Canadians lost 45-34 to the U.S., while Venezuela which lost to Canada 45-39 in the semifinal was third.
Boulos, 31, scored 12 points against his opponent to bring Canada back within eight points before the last match which Philippe Beaudry of Montreal lost 5-2 to Keeth Smart. Nicolas Mayer of Montreal and Mark Peros of Ontario were the other Canadian team members.
National team coach Jean-Marie Banos was disappointed in his squad’s match against Venezuela. ‘’There was certainly pressure against Venezuela at the start but the guys overcame that,’’ he said. ‘’The strategy to put Michel next to last was a good one. Despite Nicolas’ loss in the sixth match, Michel made a great comeback to help us regain the lead. As for Philippe he finished well against Carlos Brazo who won the bronze in individual play. Still we weren’t excellent against Venezuela. Nicolas had two good matches and fell apart. We saw that in team play it is important to score first to keep the lead and control the match.’’
‘’Against the Americans we were never able to gain the momentum as Michel did in his last match,’’ he added. ‘’I feel it was too little, too late. No one on the team could take control. There’s a lot of work to do on that side. If Michel’s comeback had occurred earlier, the match would have been different. Realistically though the Americans are physically stronger than us.’’
The loss hurt Canada’s chances to qualify for the Olympics. Only one team from the Americas can qualify. Canada now needs a strong performance at the worlds.
It was a bitter loss for Boulos. ‘’All I can say is we didn’t show up as a team,’’ he said. ‘’Since 2004 we’ve had mediocre team spirit and no cohesion. So it’s impossible under those circumstances to beat international powers like the U.S. We have talent but we don’t see it in the matches. We’re too individualistic. To win we must support each other and get the best out of each other.’’
In women’s foil, Canada won the bronze with Élise Daoust, Monica Kwan, Annie-Claude Therrien and Jujie Luan. The U.S., won gold and Venezuela silver.
Nowosielski was pleased with Canada’s performance. ‘’I’m generally satisfied with the results this week. We didn’t reach our goal to win five gold. It’s unfortunate for the men’s sabre team but there’s plenty of hope we’ll have a big team for the 2008 Olympics. We won some unexpected medals such as Catherine Dunnette in women’s epee and Jujie Luan in women’s foil. We’re seeing solid performances in the team and individual events. When the team is strong we can usually expect a strong individual performance. It’s encouraging.’’
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