2011 Wheelchair Fencing World Cup Season

[gladius]

This is the only reference I can find about the 2011 Wheelchair Fencing World Cup season. As is often the case the info is from Fedescherma.it

http://www.federscherma.it/news.asp?i=87502&s=7


1. Malaga, ESP: March 31-April 3 (first event of the season and start of the Olympic qualification period)

2. Montreal, CAN: (April 29-May 1)

3. Lonato sul Garda, ITA: May 20-22

4. Warsaw, POL: June 30-July 3

5. Eger, HUN: September 9-11


The wheelchair fencing season like Olympic fencing will include Zonal Championships and the World Championships in Catania, ITA: Oct 8-16


Note: the European Zonal Championships (Sheffield, GBR: July 16-23) and the World Championships in Catania will have wheelchair fencing and Olympic fencing at the same venue and over the same period of time.

[fencingcaddy]

IWAS has the calendar and the current forms at: http://www.iwasf.com/iwasf/index.cfm...cing-calendar/. I do not believe the Championship is a certainty for Catania. The last word was that it is tentative, but might be in Sicily. The Americas Zonal is in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 12-14.

[gladius]

IWAS has the calendar and the current forms at: http://www.iwasf.com/iwasf/index.cfm...cing-calendar/. I do not believe the Championship is a certainty for Catania. The last word was that it is tentative, but might be in Sicily. The Americas Zonal is in Sao Paulo, Brazil August 12-14.

(emphasis added)

Thank you for posting the link to IWAS-wheelchair-fencing calendar. I can confirm that the 2011 wheelchair fencing world championships will take place in Catania at the same time and in the same venue as the senior world fencing championships.

In Catania, the LOC is working on the logistics to have both championships fully integrated. They promise that wheelchair fencing will not be relegated in backrooms or in second class settings compared with Olympic fencing.

It would have been nice to follow the model of the European zonals (and the world championships) by having in our zone a single location, instead of separated venues (Rio de Janeiro and Reno) and dates (August 12-14 and July 4-9 respectively).

The FIS has decided to fully integrate the training and preparation of wheelchair fencers with Olympic fencers (previously under the care of CIP, the Italian Paralympic Committe). Other than the Paralympic Games which remain in the hands of CIP, all other championships and competitions in wheelchair fencing are now part of the FIS (this includes special formation and qualifications for coaches, training camps and preparation of the elite group of competitors in this specialty).

[gladius]

The FIS has decided to fully integrate the training and preparation of wheelchair fencers with Olympic fencers (previously under the care of CIP, the Italian Paralympic Committe).

From the FIS web site today http://www.federscherma.it/news.asp?i=87721&s=7

During the press conference today presenting the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup event in Lonato del Garda, Italy, May 19-22, the official start up of the full integration of wheelchair fencing in the FIS was launched.

"This is a step we wanted, we felt was necessary, and which is shared by many," said FIS President Giorgio Scarso. "From the beginning of this new phase we realize that there is a communion of intents and a strong desire to reach a full integration. Once more Italian fencing is at the forefront in the international arena setting goals and converting intentions in concrete actions. No more Paralympic and Olympic fencing, but only the one and great world of Italian fencing."

Alberto Martinez Vassallo, IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee Chairman, was at the press conference and declared, "The road-map set forward by Italy should be followed by all other nations. Italy was the first country to organize an integrated world championships in Turin 2006 and now it is the first country to integrate wheelchair fencing. For us this represents a victory and a starting point. We have been fighting for years to get full integration and to promote the understanding that wheelchair fencing is not a second class discipline, neither in fencing nor compared with other sports. We are now one family and together we cannot but grow, starting from Lonato and this World Cup event."

Among the dignitaries at the press conference, Fabio Giovannini, CT of Italian Paralympic fencing and Sebastiano Manzoni, President of the LOC of the Catania 2011 world championships. "In Catania our goal is true integration not only with competitions taking place at the same time," promises Manzoni. "We have the duty to prove with facts and actions the words of today."


http://www.iwasf.com/iwasf/index.cfm...chair-fencing/

[Greybeard]

look at www.wheelchairfencer.org

[fdad]

You have to wonder whether this new "integrated approach" isn't really just a euphemism for a budget cut. Will wheelchair fencing to get the same attention from the national team that it used to get when it had its own dedicated leadership?