2011 National Games: Fencing – Part 1
The Shiekh Bhikhari Administrative Block of the Mega Sports Complex in Ranchi saw some tremendous fencing competitions during the 34th National Games on February 21.
The first day covered the Women’s Epee team and Women’s individual foil event along with the Men’s Epee team and Men’s individual foil competitions. All the four events were completed on the same day and the medals were accounted for the respective winning
states.
In the preliminary (elimination) round of the Women’s epee team, four face-offs were conducted namely Punjab Vs Jharkhand, Chandigarh Vs Andhra Pradesh, Manipur Vs Himachal Pradesh and Kerala Vs Maharashtra. He four teams that made it to the semi-finals
were Punjab (45-13), Chandigarh (45-39), Manipur (45-19) and Kerala (36-31). These four then went to the semi-final round.
In the semi-final round, Manipur took on Kerala as Punjab faced Chandigarh. Manipur beat Kerala (45-35) and Punjab dominated Chandigarh (45-15) to make it in to the finals.
In the final, Manipur Women’s team edged out Punjab 45-34 to take the gold.
The Men’s foil individual event had 18 participants for nine bouts with Pool A consisting of Services (SSCB), Manipur and Chandigarh as Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Kashmir were in Pool B.
Gaurav Gupta (Chandigarh) beat Kripal Singh (Services) 5-3 as he then took on Rajeshwor Singh and lost 4-5. Rajeshwor faced Kripal Singh and beat him 3-2 to make it into the semi-finals with Gaurav.
The dynamic Tukaram Mehatra of Andhra Pradesh beat Ranchan Sabarwal 5-1, Vijay Kumar 5-4 and Ajay Kumar Shou 5-0 to slip into the semi-finals. Vijay went on to beat Ranchan 5-1 and Ajay 5-0 to qualify for the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, Gaurav took on Tukaram as Vijay battled it out with Rajeshwor. However it was Tukaram and Vijay that took the victory to face each other in the exciting final round.
Vijay from Services put in a tremendous fencing performance as he beat Tukaram 15-12 to take the gold. Tukaram secured the silver as both runners-up of the semi-final round got bronze medals.
The Women’s epee team event and the Men’s foil individual event were truly exciting as a brilliant display of fencing was put on for the crowd. The Women’s team event was fiercely fought showing the competitiveness of the various teams. During the Men’s
foil individual event, Vijay from Services managed to stamp his authority on the proceedings and showed off his tremendous fencing talent.
It will be interesting to see the result of the Men’s epee team event and the Women’s foil individual events. These matches were also very exciting as each round was fiercely contested. It looks like the fencing managed to steal the crowd during the 34th
National Games.
Continued Part 2
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