The best of the fencing best gathered at the Richmond Olympic Oval Jan. 28-30 for the Canadian National Fencing Championships. Among the top-ranked participants were were Richmond's Andy Zhou, Kelsey Chapman and Shaul Gordon, who picked up two gold medals.
Photograph by: Chung Chow , Richmond News
Richmond fencers Shaul Gordon and Dylan French have been selected to represent Canada at the upcoming Cadet and Junior World Fencing Championships in Moscow.
Gordon secured his ticket to Russia by winning the recent Junior Saber World Cup in Phoenix, Arizona. The 17-year-old captured the under 20 event with a 15-13 win over U.S. champion Will Spear from New York. The result also avenged a loss to Spear three weeks earlier at the U.S. Nationals in Portland where Gordon finished fifth.
Earlier this season, Gordon was third at the Canadian Championships in Saskatoon, competing in the senior category. He also was 12th at the U.S. Senior North American Cup in Kansas City.
In Moscow, he will be competing in the individual and junior team sabre events.
French, 14, won three medals at a national competition in Montreal last month. He will be representing Canada in the individual cadet epee events.
The local athletes, along with Canadian teammates Emma Von Dadelszen and William Wang, train out of the Dynamo Fencing Club in Richmond under Fencing Master and National Coach Victor Gantsevich and his son Igor, himself a national senior team member.
