AH over for Newth?

Press, 23 July 1980, Page 33

AH over for Newth?

NZPA Correspondent Moscow Defiant New Zealander Brian Newth’s Olympic challenge effectively ended at Moscow on Monday during 11 tiring and arm-aching hours on the fencing pistes. Newth could graft only 532 points for a disappointing forty-second place in the 43-man modern pentathlon field. He won 11 bouts and lost 31. After 42 epee duels during the modern penthathlete’s longest day, Newth said: “I just didn’t fire at all. I’ve got no excuses. I was just not good enough.” Although shooting, swimming, and Newth’s speciality of running are still to come in the test to find the truest all-round sportsman, Newth said that he would be lucky to finish in the top half of the field. After two days, he is fortydirst overall, with a total of 1550 points. ‘‘The performance here today was akin to the way I fenced when I first came overseas,” he said. “It’s put me right out of the hunt.” The writing was on the

wall early in the day for Newth. After the first five rounds of the competition in which all fencers fight each other, Newth was in last place with only two wins from 14 bouts. He picked up later and moved off the bottom line of the results sheet, but he knew that he would not go much higher. Many of the pentathletes, especially the all-powerful East Europeans, make each of the pentathlon disciplines a speciality, rather like a track and field decathlete being a world-class 1500 metres runner as well. “Some of the guys here have fenced for their countries and others have been in their Olympic swim teams,” Newth said. His background, before taking up the esoteric sport at the advanced age of 27, was purely in running. The closest he’d previously come to fencing was reading “The Three Musketeers.” However, the day was not all bad for Newth. He beat two out of the three Poles

■ he fought, although no'f the reigning Olympic champion, . Januz Pyciak-Peciak, and ; he beat one of the favoured : Rumanians, Cezar-Mihai Raducanu. And he lasted longer than ihe expected against the ! world champion, gold medal , favourite "Pavel Lednev of ' the Soviet Union. Newth took the initiative in that bout, and attacked Lednev, forcing him to give ground. But the master swordsman was biding his time, content to parry Newth’s flailing blade. When an opening to Newth’s chest appeared through the guard after two minutes, the Russian was in like lightning. “That’s the thing about the guys at the top of this competition,” Newth said. “Just give them a chink through your defence and they’re in. They are just so quick, both in their thinking and in their reactions. A couple of times I thought I had won a bout, only to lose to the superior reactions of my opponent.” The fencing competition is an adaptation of true international fencing. Bouts are for a maximum three minutes and if a decisive hit is not recorded at the end of the time, both fencers are given defeats. And only one hit is need- < ed to win, unlike fencing itself which is decided on either , the best of three or ( the best of five hits.