The Royal Belfast Academical Institute (RBAI) was the venue for the 2nd round of the N Ireland Junior Foil Series, held last Saturday 7th December. Twelve Sullivan Upper Fencers took part, 5 of whom brought back medals: 1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.
U12s
In the girls’ U12s Amelia Penny finished third to win a bronze medal, while in the boys’ event Noah Currie also finished third to take bronze. Although this was only Noah’s first ever competition and Amelia’s second, these results reflected how much both these young fencers had put into their training and practice since starting fencing in September.
U14s
Finn Neely got off to a flying start in the U14 boys event, winning all 5 of his poule fights in convincing style to take the no.2 seed position going into the knock-out stage. Here however, he suffered a surprise narrow quarter-final defeat to finish in 5th place. Year 8 Josh Andrews had his first experience of competition in this age group, just losing his last 16 fight to finish 13th.
In the girls’ U14s Alexandra Ong made it to the semis where she put up a good fight but lost 7-15 to finish 3rd and take bronze.
U16s
The poule stage of the girls’ U16s saw Victoria Morris win 6 from 7 fights, Izzy Evans 5 from 7, Alex Atkinson 3 from 7, Rachel McKillen 2 from 7 and Angharad King 1 from 7, giving the 5 SU fencers seedings 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 respectively going into the knock-out stage. Unfortunately this meant that 4 of the 5 ended up in the same half of the last 16 draw, and resulted in Izzy knocking out Rachel and Victoria knocking out Angharad, leading to Victoria meeting Izzy in the semi-final. Victoria won this fight to go into the final, with Izzy taking bronze. Alex, in the other half of the draw, lost her quarter-final to finish 5th, while Rachel and Angharad were placed 6th and 7th. The final, between Victoria and the top RoI U16, was initially close fought, but in the end was a convincing win for Victoria 15-10.
The boys’ U16s had Alexander Penny and Keir Murray finishing their poules with seedings 4 and 8. Both were however knocked out in the quarters, with Alexander finishing just outside the medals in 5th and Keir finishing 8th.
Round 3 takes place on Sat 11th January 2020 in the SU Sports Hall.
Girls U16 Medallists Girls U14 Medallists
Boys U12 Medallists Girls U12 Medallists
SUFC at NIJFS Round 1
David White
SUFC Coach
18 Dec 2019