Last Friday 22nd October, the Japanese Men’s Foil fencing team (currently ranked 4th in the world) were invited to the Lansdowne Club to fence in a Challenge Match against our Senior Great Britain team. It was a wonderful occasion for us to showcase our sport and a fantastic training opportunity for both teams before the upcoming World Championships in Paris in November.
It was a full-house and I was excited to see so many familiar faces and representatives from British Fencing who came along to support our boys. There were also a lot of people outside of the fencing circle who seemed genuinely impressed by the set-up and skills that both teams were displaying. It was an exciting match that started with Japan taking an early lead and maintaining it until the gap was narrowed a few fights from the end at 28-27. GB held the score and fought hard until the last hit but Yuki Ota (Beijing Olympic silver medallist) closed-out the match with a final score of 45-41.
Irrespective of who won, both teams gave the audience a fantastic display of fencing. Indeed I brought along a few friends of mine who had only seen me fence once and so were near first-time spectators, and they loved it. They found it exciting, entertaining and professional. This is the sort of event that I wish more people could be exposed to. Fencing can be brilliantly gripping, and it deserves more media attention.
The friendly also saw the GB boys wearing brand new Leon Paul masks made especially for the Great Britain team. I thought they looked great! The Union Jack design is striking and impressive – I am looking forward to seeing what Leon Paul come up with next!
Thank-you to everyone involved for putting on such a wonderful evening.
Hi Claire,
ReplyDeleteGood read, hard lines for the lads!
Do you know who the cameraman was working for? Any word about when footage is going to be broadcast/online? Thanks. :)
Hi! Thanks for reading :)
ReplyDeleteI believe the cameraman was filming for Japanese TV and so I am afraid it won't be aired in the UK. I do not know if it can be found online either.
At last year's Lansdowne Exhibition match, Ollie Williams from the BBC was filming, here is a clip which might interest you: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/fencing/8817544.stm
It gives you an idea of what the exhibition evening is like!
Hope that helps,
All the best,
Claire.
Shame, but oh well! Thanks anyway, much appreciated. :)
ReplyDeleteI've seen that vid before; still have misgivings about the music choice!
All the best. :)