Sophie Williams Blog

Spain!

Just arrived back from Logrono in Spain where I reached the quarter finals of an Under 20 World Cup competition. I have done the competition a few times before, and my best result so far has been a Last 16, which I got two years ago. I had high hopes for the weekend as the competition was not as strong as it has been in previous years and also because there is only one more competition after Logrono in which I can qualify for the Junior World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, which are being held in April.

The poule round went well. I won 4 fights (5-4, 5-1, 5-3 and 5-1) and lost 2 (both 5-4) and this seeded me in 12th place overall. I had a bye through the Last 64 round and in the Last 32 I had a fairly inexperienced Spanish fencer who I beat comfortably 15-5. In the Last 16 round I had a French fencer who was ranked 5th in the competition. The first half was close and at the break I was only winning 8-7, but then I took control in the second half and won 15-9. In the quarter-finals I had Sandra Marcos (Spain) who was the highest ranked fencer going into the competition and who I have fenced against several times before, although I have never beaten her. She took control of the fight from the beginning and although I caught up a little at the end, she was just too strong a fencer and beat me 15-9. She then went on to win the competition, so if the draw had been slightly different then it is quite likely that I would have got a better result, but I was happy finishing 7th in the competition and I am now very close to qualifying for the Junior World Championships. Next weekend I am competing in the England Cup in London, which is a Senior International at which I hope to do fairly well.