Future brighter than expected for Britain’s Olympic Fencers after team foil gold in the Olympic test event
Last updated 12/6/2011 10:50:18 AM
Britain’s Olympic Fencers win team foil gold in the Olympic test event
Britain's fencers received a much-needed boost by winning the team foil gold in the Olympic test event at London's ExCeL arena.
Richard Kruse, Laurence Halsted, James Kenber and Ed Jefferies combined to follow up their early successes by defeating Russia 45-34 in the final after earlier accounting for both China and France.
British success did not end there with the second-string side reaching the semi-finals with a one-point victory over top seeds Italy only to miss out on a final place after narrowly losing 45-42 to the Russians.
The performances more than made up for the disappointment of Saturday's individual competition when only one of the eight-strong home squad managed to reach the quarter-finals in the 32-man event.
Kruse, 28, who lost out to eventual winner Gerek Meinhardt of the United States in the last eight, is ranked 22 in the world and is the only Briton currently in the top 40 in the world.
Russia's line-up included ninth-ranked Alexey Cheremisinov and 19th-ranked Dmitriy Rigine, while the French had two of the sport's top seven and former Olympic champion Brice Guyart. China had two of the top 12 displaying the strength of the opposition over the tournament.
"It's an amazing feeling," Kruse said, "I think it's all psychological. We've got the same amount of talent as these guys, we train harder than them, it was just the fact that it was on home turf.
"We refused to back down and I think it's such a psychological edge. We usually back down to these teams, we think they're better than us, but they're not. To have something on home turf has proven that to me.
"It's a great feeling and it's a great dress rehearsal for next year."
Italy, who have four of the top five foil fencers in the world, none of whom competed in the London event, will be strong favourites to lift gold at next summer's Games.
Britain are only ranked 10th at present, but as host nation can be added to the eight sides who qualify automatically at the end of March.
They will be trying to improve their position in the New Year as otherwise it could mean taking on the Italians in the quarter-finals.