USFA News: Keeth Smart wins Madrid WC

[Craig]

Keeth Smart (24, Brooklyn, N.Y.) won his second World Cup gold of the season in Madrid, Spain over the weekend, and is now ranked #3 in the world.

Smart won the gold by defeating Italy's Luigi Tarantino soundly, 15-8.

On the way to the gold medal bout, he defeated Julien Pillet of France 15-10 and then top seed Mihai Covaliu of Romania, 15-14. Covaliu had held the #1 world rank in the week prior to this competition.

Rogers (20, Los Angeles, Calif.), seeded 45th after the round robin pool, fought through a difficult bracket; to reach the final sixteen, he upset hometown hero Jorge Pina of Spain, ranked tenth in the world, by a score of 15-13. He then defeated Nourdin Marouf of France 15-13 to reach the final eight, where he was defeated by World Cup leader Stanislaw Pozdniakov of Russia 15-12.

Stay tuned for results from world cup team competitions around the world later this week.

Akt. Sä Madrid
Senior "A" Men's Sabre, Madrid, Spain, May 10-11, 2003
149 competitors
1) SMART Keeth T (24, Brooklyn, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation)
2) TARANTINO Luigi ITA
3) POZDNIAKOV Stanisla RUS
3) COVALIU Mihai ROM
5) PILLET Julien FRA
6) MONTANO Aldo ITA
7) LENGYEL Balazs HUN
8) ROGERS Jason N (20, Los Angeles, Calif./Salle Gascon/Ohio State Univ.
'05)
40) CLEMENT Luther C (18, Prairie Village, Kans./ Fencing Athletic Club of Kans. City)
45) LEE Ivan J. (22, Brooklyn, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation)
59) PARKER G Colin (21, Fayetteville, Ga./Nellya Fencers/Ohio State Univ.
'04)
81 MOREHOUSE Timothy (23, Bronx, N.Y./Fencers Club)
98 WHITMER Darrin (21, W. Bloomfield, Mich./Fencers Club/St. John's) 109 RAYNAUD Herby (32, New York, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation) Referee to Madrid: Misha Shimshovich

Challenge de Zurich
Senior "A" Women's Epee, Zurich, Switzerland, May 10-11, 2003 128 competitors 1 LEE Keum-Nam KOR 2 NASS Katja GER FC Offenbach 3 LAMON Sophie SUI 3 AZNAVOURIAN Karina RUS 5 KIRALY PICOT Hajnalka FRA 6 KIM Hee-Jeong KOR 7 STATSENKO Olga RUS 8 VANSOVICA Julija LAT 39 EIM Stephanie (25, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club) 63 LESZKO Julia (33, Portland, Ore./NorthWest Fencing Center) 97 HURLEY Kelley (14, Medina, Texas/Hill Country Club Fencing) 98 SPILMAN Elisabeth (33, Los Angeles, Calif.) 102 ORLANDO Amy (18, Beaverton, Ore./North West Fencing Center)

Trophée Carroccio
Senior "A" Men's Epee, Legnano, Italy, May 10-11, 2003
1 ROTA Alfredo ITA
2 FISCHER Marcel SUI SE Basel
3 CHEREMSKI Alexei ISR
3 TIGCHELAAR Siebren NED
5 JANVIER Benoit FRA
6 LEE Sang-Yup KOR
7 MATHE Jörg AUT
8 MARTINELLI Francesco ITA
62 THOMPSON Soren (22, San Deigo, Calif./TZCKA/Princeton '04) Referee to Legnano: Wes Glon

Lowe von Bonn
Senior "A" Men's Foil, Bonn, Germany, May 10-11, 2003
170 competitors
1 WANG Haibin CHN
2 CASSARA Andrea ITA
3 JOPPICH Peter GER Königsbacher SC
3 BEHR Dominik GER FC TBB
5 RAMACCI Marco ITA
6 GUYART Brice FRA
7 GOMES Joao POR
8 ATTELY Loic FRA
63 KELLNER Daniel (26, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/Columbia '98) 87 CHANG Timothy (25, San Francisco, Calif./ Stanford Fencing Club) 89 TIOMKIN Jonathan (23, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club/St. John's '02) 95 WOOD Alexander (25, Mountain View, Calif./Stanford Fencing Club) 100 MULHOLLAND Mark (21, Piedmont, Calif./Stanford '03) 102 DUPREE Jed (23, New York, N.Y./Fencers Club) 148 CHANG Gregory (27, Lexington, Mass./Boston Fencing Club) Referee to Bonn: Vladimir Lilov

Cindy Bent
US Fencing Media Relations
614.746.6733 * USFencingMedia@earthlink.net
www.USFencing.org

[a517dogg]

good christ, that's an excellent result for rogers, especially with who he beat

[edew]

Yeah, Smart winning a World Cup isn't news anymore. Rogers making the top-8 is good news (for him and US sabre in general).

The US men's foil's gotta get with the program...

[whtouche]

Agreed.
This is the best result I think he's ever had, correct me if Im wrong. And it seems like it was a tough world cup too, even more amazing to make the 8 in.
What makes it even more interesting is the fact that he was seeded 45th after pools, and battled his way up to take 8th. In a competition of this class I imagine that's a pretty spectacular feat.

[edew]

I'm sure Iseedeadpeople would argue that Jason's original seed into the tournament was incorrectly set so that he was seeded so low as to finish 45th coming out of the pools. MUST. USE. ELO. CHESS. SYSTEM.

[Jupiter]

I can only cheer from the sidelines; this is great news to read. Another kid fromthemidwest gets out there and gets them squarley. Who is fencing men's foil these days? There are so many folks fencing foil these days, I can't keep up with them all. It seems like yesterday everyone was talking about Cliff Bayer, and not three years later, he isn't fencing?

[Peach]

Did Keeth beat Podzniakov or Covaliu to get into the final?

[Mergs]

I remember when saber was fenced dry and Americans couldn't buy a touch, let alone win a major tournament (Peter Westbrook's bronze notwithstanding) and everyone cried European predjudice, etc. Amazing what we've managed to accomplish internationally since the electrification of the weapon.

[DJ Apostrophe]

Keeth fenced Covailu in the 4.
-w

[Sabresque]

Most world cups, especially grand prixs are bloodbaths right now. They've all begun counting for Olympic 2004 qualification. It's gonna be some fun competition for the remainder of this next season.

[Mo]

Originally posted by Sabresque
Most world cups, especially grand prixs are bloodbaths right now. They've all begun counting for Olympic 2004 qualification. It's gonna be some fun competition for the remainder of this next season.

How do the qualifiers work?? The are two women from our club working on making it. I am afraid to ask in fear of sounding stupid. Do you understand the process??
What counts?
Domestically what counts and when?
How far do points go back? What about World Cups??

[Jupiter]

Talk about pressure. I feel pressure getting up early to go to the local college thing.

[fencingguy]

Originally posted by Jupiter
I can only cheer from the sidelines; this is great news to read. Another kid fromthemidwest gets out there and gets them squarley. Who is fencing men's foil these days? There are so many folks fencing foil these days, I can't keep up with them all. It seems like yesterday everyone was talking about Cliff Bayer, and not three years later, he isn't fencing?

I assume you're talking about Jason Rodgers. He goes to OSU, but he's actually from LA. And Keeth is from NY.