Minuto and D’Armimento repeat last year’s triumphs in Amsterdam

Both fencers repeated their success from 12 months ago at the same tournament in the Netherlands with commanding victories in their respective disciplines.

The weekend’s action was part of a series of warm-up competitions taking place over the coming weeks, all building up to fencing’s FIE Grand Prix series events starting in December.

In the men’s foil, Minuto was in fine form and was a worthy winner by beating Denmark’s Emil Urik Andersen 15 touches to 8 in the Final.
To get there, the Turk fought past Great Britain’s Glen Ostacchini 15-11 in the quarter-finals, ahead of Egypt’s Mohammed Essam by the same scoreline in the semi-final.

Andersen had advanced to the Final courtesy of a 15-6 success over The Netherlands’ Daniel Giacon in the quarter-finals and then a 15-10 victory over Canada’s Mikhail Sweet in the semi-finals.

In the men’s sabre, D’Armiento looked in equally impressive condition as he repeated his tournament success from last year.

He did so by again beating a fellow Italian in the Final, this time in the shape of Alberto Arpino, thanks to a 15-9 scoreline. That came on the back of victories over Great Britain’s Brymor Saunders (15-9) in the quarter-finals and USA’s Thomas Kolasa (15-10) in the semi-finals.
Arpino’s progress to the Final had seen him overcome Germany’s Thomas Schaich 15-10 at the quarter-final stage before easing past Argentina’s Stefano Ivan Lucchetti 15-7 in the semi-finals.

In addition to the two men’s competition, there was a women’s foil tournament which was won by Germany’s Kim Kirschen.

Having beaten two British fencers in the shape of Katie Smith (15-9) in the quarter-finals and Chloe Dickson (15-12) in the semi-finals, the German beat Italy’s Marta Cammilletti 15-10 in the Final.