ME Grand Prix, Doha, February 10-11, 2012

[Mr Epee]

At the break 6-6.

My quick take is that Verwiljen is giving Fernandez quite a bit more respect timing, distance and opportunity wise than he's given his past few opponents. Not sure if there's some head-to-head history between the two, if environmental factors are playing a role, or if there's some physical/technical matchup in-play that isn't being made available due to the unfortunate camera angle.

If this keeps up, I'd say it favors Fernandez. We'll see.

[Gav]

Don't check the twitter feed. There's a broadcast delay and they've just announced the result.

[Mr Epee]

Really unfamiliar with Park (KOR), unless he has something really special at his disposal, I'd expect an easy win for Novosjolov.

Ok, that's a weird thing to have in advantage, but Park's small size is actually an advantage against Novosjolov. Novosjolov needs two things to be successful. 1) his opponent's blade. 2) his opponent's body. Because of his diminutiveness Park can give the first, but pick up the hit when Novosjolove either misses the target (over) or hiccups to look for him.

If Novosjolov can figure the angle out and put the path in memory then he has a big chance to come back regardless of the deficit.

Otherwise Park will be in the final.

Edit: for context - I wrote the first paragraph before the match started and the remainder as the score went quickly 4-1 for Park.

Final Result: Park over Novosjolov 15-7 (Was it 7? the screen has changed)

Edit Edit: Of the set of epeeists who need the blade to operate (particularly through the 6 line) smaller opponents have a serious often overlooked advantage. Unless the bigger fencer has that kind of weird downward hooking arch in the riposte like Tamir did (which must have developed in response to something/someone(s) pretty specific) ... and even then not great.

[Mr Epee]

Final match is about to start. The stream has been hiccuping a bit. With any luck it'll hold.

Really hard to predict anything with this match. The fencers are quite different themselves, and previous opponents were very very different both physically, methodologically and psychologically. My initial feeling is that if Fernandez can get a bead, he'll be able to shoot through for an easy win. Technically he's better positioned to take advantage of Park's size disadvantage. Ultimately the angle and film quality make it impossible to pick out much of what Park is doing to tip the scales, although his timing and stomach appear to be in good form.

[Mr Epee]

The feed was skipping around during the final, so I don't have much to contribute regarding the bout as a whole.

I was really impressed with Park's feeling for the blade and the work that he did with it throughout. I really liked what I saw, and obviously on a day when his timing is on and his legs are working, he's can beat the best. He's quite light on the piste (light enough to really frustrate folks hoping to pin him down) and Fernandez was just fascinated/concerned with his positioning and blade movement to avoid really teeing off.

According to the FIE site, looks like head-to-head Fernandez beat Park 15-14 in Berne last year.

[gladius]

If you missed the live feed here is the video of the semi and final bouts (from about 10:00 onwards: Verwijlen-S. Fernandez from 13:50 - 34:00; Novosjolov-Park from 37:00 - 47:30; final Park-Fernandez from 1:02:30)

http://www.youtube.com/user/FIEvideo

[Ancientepee]

Any one know the final placements of the US ME fencers or how the WE fencers did in the pools/DE?

[gladius]

Any one know the final placements of the US ME fencers or how the WE fencers did in the pools/DE?

Must be patient until the QFF and/or the FIE post the official results.

We don't want to disseminate false information, don't we...

[Ancientepee]

Finally the FIE put up the ME results:
http://www.fie.ch/Competitions/Resul...429EC047CFCF6E

[gladius]

ME results posted on the FIE web site here

[fencerX]

WE table of 32, strip assignments and times:

http://kabcom.technologie.officelive.com/Tableau.aspx

[Timacheff]

Photo highlights from Saturday in Doha.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...1479394&type=1

[Timacheff]

Our "Shot of the Day" from Saturday.

421393_310504308997420_185684581479394_813534_578326681_n.jpg

[swordsman2321]

[QUOTE=Mr Epee;956447]Really unfamiliar with Park (KOR), unless he has something really special at his disposal, I'd expect an easy win for Novosjolov.

I would agree, but Park took Novosjolov apart pretty solidly in Catania at WC's

[Mr Epee]

Really unfamiliar with Park (KOR), unless he has something really special at his disposal, I'd expect an easy win for Novosjolov.

I would agree, but Park took Novosjolov apart pretty solidly in Catania at WC's

I didn't see that match. Good catch. 15-8 that match went down for Park. I only saw one other meeting between the two: a 14-12 win for Novosjolov in Stockholm.

Take a look at the very first hit. (I'm talking on the thin ice of grainy tape, so bear with me.) That's a hit that almost always goes reflexively sliding to the top/upper (maybe even a bit to the outside) shoulder, but looks that Novosjolov tries to tuck the riposte to the front of Park's body. That doesn't mean that Park didn't do a great job feeling the right moment to go (with Park working from his own end zone, and Novosjolov pressing and showing him that multi-level threat it sure looked like Novosjolov had something gearing up - no better time to toss a wrench in the works), or do the technical work of finishing off the attack (good job). It just appears to me that Novosjolov was already concerned about the very real possibility of whistling the point over Park's shoulder. It doesn't take much and tucking that riposte to the chest is a nightmare compared to just putting it where it belongs.

Edit: The next hit Novosjolov looks to have been beaten cleanly by Park off the dead tempo, decides to try and convert the double instead of attempting a (too) late defense; and either (can't tell) misses the hit, or gets timed out. Regardless, he's again working into a disadvantageous lower-middle line instead of one of the shorter ones.