Fencers demonstrate high class

Belarusian men’s fencing team wins first World Fencing Championship silver in Catania

By Dmitry Komarov

In the finals, Dmitry Lapkes, Valery Priemko, Alexander Buikevich and reserve Alexey Likhachevsky lost to the Russian squad — comprising Nikolay Kovalev, Veniamin Reshetnikov, Alexey Yakimenko and reserve Pavel Bykov. The final score was 29:45. Beforehand, our team defeated Canada 45:27, Romania — 45:44 and Italy 45:43. Silver is the squad’s highest achievement to date, with fourth place at the 2010 World Championships in Paris their previous best result.

“We still have two tournaments to attend — in Moscow and Beijing — before the Olympic selection round ends (April 1st),” notes head coach Maxim Logotko. “Being ranked fourth allows us a fighting chance, and we think that we’ll face a weaker team to reach the top eight. The only team likely to deprive us of a place at the London Olympics is the French. They currently lag behind us by 95 points.”

Dmitry Lapkes was most successful in the individual events at the World Championship, occupying seventh position and losing in the ? final to Luigi Tarantino, 40, of Italy — who eventually claimed bronze. Valery Priemko was placed 23rd while Alexander Buikevich finished 37th and Alexey Romanovich was ranked 42nd.

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