Ryan and Filippi win foil events in Copenhagen

Ryan was in good form to close down the women’s foil competition, whilst Filippi was made to fight hard particularly in the latter stages of the men’s tournament before emerging as the winner.

The weekend’s action in the Danish capital was the latest in a series of warm-up competitions across Europe and all continental zones all building up to the start of the FIE Grand Prix series in January next year.

In the women’s foil event, Ryan overcame the challenge of 17 year old Amita Berthier from Singapore to win 15-9 in the Final.
That came after an impressive run of victories against Finland’s Irene Enright (15-4) and Great Britain’s Katie Smith (15-6), before accounting for two Italians; Marta Ricci in the quarter-finals (15-10) and Rachele Olga Calissi (14-11) in the semi-finals.

Berthier’s path to the Final had seen her beat Slovakia’s Veronika Karlikova (15-7) in the last 32 stage, ahead of progressing past the Italian duo of Elena Craighero (15-6) and Marta Cammilletti (15-5) to reach the semi-finals. Here she met Austria’s Olivia Wohlgemuth and in a tense bout came through winning 15-12 to book her Final showdown with Ryan.

In the men’s foil event, 20 year old Italian Filippi had to negotiate a series of testing encounters before taking the competition honours.

Victories over Great Britain’s Matthew Billing (15-7 in the last 32), Hong Kong’s Yat Long Lee (15-6 in the last 16), and the host nation’s Maxim Valeur (15-6 in the quarter-finals) set up a semi-final clash with another Dane, Alexander Tsoronis.

In a closely fought bout, it was the Italian who prevailed 15-13 to progress to the Final against Jean-Paul Tony Helissey.

Once again Filippi was made to fight hard but the young Italian did enough to eventually close down the Final winning 15-12.