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World's best battle for Olympic spots

Richmond Oval hosting Canada Cup fencing event with outstanding international field
fencing
Elite international fencing returns to the Richmond Olympic Oval this weekend with the Bayonkyi Vancouver Men’s Epee World Cup. The event will go a long way to determing spots in the Rio Olympic Summer Games.

There will be plenty at stake as top international fencers make their way to the Richmond Olympic Oval for the Bayonkyi Vancouver Men’s Epee World Cup.
The three-day event, which gets underway with the individual preliminary round on Friday, is one of the final qualifying competitions for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio. Over 30 countries will be participating.
National teams began arriving in town earlier this week and training at the Dynamo Fencing Club, which has teamed up to host the event with the Canadian Fencing Federation and B.C. Fencing. It marks the fourth consecutive year the World Cup has made a stop in Richmond and Dynamo’s Igor Gantsevich says fans are in for a treat with the Olympics on the horizon.
“Men’s epee is the deepest field in the world of fencing,” explained Gantsevich, a former national team member himself. “You can be ranked 120th and still win the World Championship. There are only 32 individual spots at the Olympics and anything can happen.
“The 2008 Olympic champion didn’t qualify in 2012 and neither did the 2004 Olympic champion in 2008. That’s how deep it is. As of today, the reigning world champion (Hungary’s Geze Imre) has not even qualified yet and I consider him one of the top 10 fencers of all-time.”
Gantsevich says there is many reasons for so much parity in men’s epee.
For starters, there is no classification for weight, height or age. Then there is different teaching methods from around the world which have all enjoyed success at one time or another. The pinnacle event of the weekend will be the men’s team competition on Sunday which will go a long way to determine qualifying for Rio.
“It starts with a round of 32 playoff bracket then just keeps going,” continued Gantsevich. “Sunday is when the magic happens. It’s going to be insane.”
Through the efforts of Gantsevich, his father Victor, David Callaghan and board members, Richmond has become the unofficial hub in Canada for fencing.
It’s popularity is reflected in Dynamo’s growing membership that now features many national team members thanks to an outstanding coaching staff. It includes Olympic gold medalist and 2007 World Cup overall winner Eric Boisse of France and former Chinese national champion Andy Zhou.
Last year, Dynamo was involved with staging the provincial, Western Canada, Canada Cup and World Cup events at the Oval.
Making this weekend possible was a $50,000 staging grant from Heritage Canada and Via Sport. Gantsevich adds having a venue like the Olympic Oval to host international competitions has been huge for the sport.
“Any athlete who show up here tells me what an amazing facility it is,” beamed Gantsevich. “From a budget perspective, we may not having fancy scoring systems like a country like France has, but the Oval itself compensates for everything. How can we not have Olympic calibre competitions in an Olympic venue?”
Among the contenders this weekend is Canada’s own Max Brinck-Croteau. He is currently in the lead for a Pan Am zone spot, but with only a few points separating him from his competitors, a good result will greatly help his cause.
“Our athletes were boosted by the fantastic home crowd support demonstrated at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games and I expect that our Vancouver crowds will continue that home field advantage and help lift our Canadian athletes to a crucial peak performance,” added Canadian Fencing Federation President Brad Goldie.
Weekend passes for the Bayonkyi Vancouver Men’s Epee World Cup are $25 and available at the door.