Image: Kyodo News
Wheelchair fencing is a thrilling, athletic and fast paced sport. It normally takes part between two competitors or a team who use modified swords to score points off each other. They do this by making contact with different regions of their opponents body using a variety of different kinds of weapons.
To take part in the sport, competitors must meet a certain criteria in order to ensure that they are qualified. This helps to keep the sport fair for all competitors and ensure that no one has any unfair advantage. The regulations of the sport are broadly based on those of the International Fencing Federation and help to keep the sport fair and balanced for all competitors. Examples of these rules include that people taking part must have at least one half of their bottom in contact with the seat at all times.
The 2023 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championship is currently taking place in Terni, Italy. The competition is being arranged from the 2nd to the 8th October and will be an opportunity for disabled sports people to compete for their country on an international level. It also proves to show other people who may be disabled that they can achieve anything if they are given the opportunity and they put their minds to it.
Being selected to take part in a tournament such as this is a great honour to all those taking part and they should be able to show the world why disability sports deserves more funding and exposure to help the next generation of emerging athletes. Other forms of advertising and sponsorship will also be able to see what is taking place in Italy and some competitors may catch their eye to allow them to take them on to give them further exposure.
Athletes selected:
Epee/Foil/Sabre
GILLIVER Piers (Q)
Epee/Foil/Sabre
COUTYA Dimitri (Q)
Epee/Foil
LAM WATSON Oliver (Q)
Epee/Foil
WADDELL Josh (T)
Foil/Sabre
RASHID Shah (Q)
Epee/Sabre
COLLIS Gemma (Q)
Epee/Foil
MOORE Justine (Q)
Epee/Foil
HOLDER Emily (D)
Epee/Sabre
SEDDON COWELL Suzie (D)
Q = Qualified, T = Selected via the Team, D = Discretionary
The selection pannel met on 7th August and were able to look through the wide variety of talent available and discuss who should be involved at the tournament. The pannel included many senior officials through out the sport who used their skill and experience to decide who should be involved. These included:
WCP Performance Manager – Matt Hammond (V)
WCP Lead Coach – Peter Rome (V)
WCP Assistant Performance Coach – Glen Golding (V)
BF Pathway Director – Steve Kemp (V)
BF ADT Nominee – Ian Lichfield (V)
Note taker – Matt Hammond
Any athlete who was not selected to take part in this year’s event has no right to appeal to appeal against non selection
Disabled sports fans around the world will be eager to keep an eye on what’s happening in Italy. This way they will be helping to build their knowledge of the sport and also have something that they will be able to talk about when they associate with their friends and peers. By doing this it will also help to spread the sports reputation as well as help to attract other people who may not be disabled. The more people that know what’s happening in different disability sports, the better chance they have of attracting more funding or sponsorship to help build new facilities etc.
People who would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the tournament can do so via a live feed of the results which they can find online. This can be found at:
Fencing Worldwide (wheelchairfencing.live)
