Epee events decided

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 48

Epee events decided

The young Auckland fencer, Steven Martin, emerged from a series of exciting bouts as the winner of the epee title at the New Zealand fencing championships which ended at Christchurch Boys’ High School yesterday. Martin started well in the finals, gaining wins in his first three matches, but was beaten in his fourth by a man proving to be Martin’s jinx in the tournament, Paul Admiraal (Otago-Southland). Admiraal’s conservative fencing took him to a 5-2 win over Martin and threw the competition wide open. Martin’s vital match came when he met Peter Osvath, of Wellington. Both competitors had had one loss each. The Auckland man scored first in the bout, but Osvath countered quickly. Osvath tried to place pressure on Martin with a pause in the fighting, but when the pair resumed it was Martin who went ahead with a welltimed hit. Osvath began to feel the pressure and lunged at Martin who turned that attack with a quick parry and secured a hit to take control of the match which he won, 5-1. The other fencer left with only one loss was Wayne Hudson, of Auckland, and in the final bout of the epee competition Hudson had to beat Admiraal to force a barrage against Martin. The Master of Arms Trophy for the best/ per-

former in all three fencing disciplines went to Osvath. Wellington was the champion province and Patrick Kell, of Canterbury, won the Sydney Rosebowl annually awarded to a fencer from the host province for fencing style. Six Christchurch fencers were named after the tournament in the New Zealand under-20 team which will compete in the Australian under-20 championships next January. They were Patrick Kell, David Metcalf, Rachael Scott, Kathy Allen, Jamie McCullough and John Allen. The team is: — Foil: Men, J. Upford, G. McLean (Wellington); D. Metcalf, P. Kell (Christchurch); H. Pearce (Auckland). Women, A. Cushnie, J. Dorking (Otago-Southland); K. Rennie (Wellington); R. Scott, K. Allen (Christchurch). Sabre: C. Frethey (Wellington), Kell, Pearce, J. McCullough (Christchurch). Epee: Metcalf, McLean: J. Allen (Christchurch) McCullough, F. Ombler (OtagoSouthland). Results were:— Epee: Men, S. Martin (Auckland) 1, P. Osvath (Wellington) 2, W. Hudson (Auckland) 3, P. Admiraal (Otago-Southland) 4, A. Toker (Canterbury) 5, J. Gray (Australia) 6. Women, V. Lamb (Wellington) 1, J. Lindsay (Christchurch) 2, R. Scott (Christchurch) 3. Teams, Auckland (W. Hudson, S. Martin, B. Thomas) 1, Wellington 2, Canterbury 3.