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Home again, after a delightful weekend of sword fighting adventure.
Six of us from the club entered the competition, including the Fencing Master's daughter. Her first tournament! She did pretty well too. She won two of her five 'pool' matches, but it wasn't enough to make the cut-off for the next round of elimination pools.
Four of us went all the way to the semi-finals, where each of us was soundly, thoroughly, and roundly trounced! Although I was 45 years older than my opponent in the semi-finals, and far more experienced, there is no question that he not only was faster and had more energy, he really did 'out-think' me as well! He played me like a fish, and beat me 15-9!
It was 'almost' a pleasure to lose to him. 'Almost.' One of our club members beat an Olympic fencer in his elimination pool bout, and made a name for the Chiang Mai Fencing Club. We were just about the only 'old people' at the tournament. Most of the Thai National team, many from the Malaysia National Team, and two Olympic fencers who left the team four years ago were fencing this weekend. All in their 20's and 30's. The coach of the Hungarian National team was there, but he didn't fence. Lots of heavy competition at this meet!
So now I'm cleaning my equipment, re-taping the Foil blades, grinding out the nicks and gouges in the edges of the Foils and Épées, testing the body cords for breakages in the wires, and putting my uniform into the washing machine. There's another tournament at the end of next month to plan for!
Stitchawl
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