Sophie Williams Blog

England Cup - London

At the weekend I went to London for my first Senior World Cup event of the season. The entry number was fairly high (103), so I knew it was going to be a tough competition.

On the Saturday I had the poule round.  I won 3 fights (5-4, 5-0, 5-4) and lost 3 (5-2, 5-3, 5-3).  This seeded me 54th , as the top 16 fencers had a bye through the first round. In the ‘last 128’ round I drew a fencer from Singapore. She seemed fairly inexperienced and I beat her comfortably 15-6. That was as far as we got in the competition on Saturday.

On the Sunday I had my ‘last 64’ fight with Bujdoso (GER) who is currently ranked no. 1 in the world at under 20 level. I have fenced her many times, but so far have never beaten her. I was never really close in the fight and despite a late surge I lost 15-6. This meant I finished 55th in the competition.  At the outset, my aim had been to reach the ‘last 64’ so I was pleased to get that far.  My progress is still very positive and I am beginning to establish myself in the seniors as well as the juniors now.