Coutya adds to World Cup medal collection in Georgia

Dimitri Coutya made it two medals in as many days as he claimed bronze in the foil B at the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in Tbilisi.

After silver yesterday in the epee B, the Rio Paralympian went into the foil event with high hopes, a confidence demonstrated when he dispatched Japanese swordsman Michinobu Fujita 15-5 in his round of 16 bout.

An impressive 15-7 win over fourth seed Albert Kamalov in the quarter-finals set up a last-four bout against Hu Daoliang, a rematch of yesterday’s epee B last-16 tie where Coutya had gotten the better of the Chinese fencer.

But this time it was to be Hu’s day, as the double Paralympic champion in the event and tournament number one seed claimed a 15-6 win.

Elsewhere on day two of the World Cup, Gemma Collis-McCann defeated Russian Natalya Afonina 15-13 to earn a spot in the final-16 of the women’s epee A.

She came up against stiff competition in Rio bronze medallist and number two seed Amarilla Veres, where in spite of a battling performance, Collis-McCann lost out 15-12, finishing 13th overall.

In the men’s foil A, Oliver Lam-Watson and Josh Waddell finished 25th and 26th respectively after they were knocked out at the last-32 stage.

Tomorrow sees yesterday’s gold medallist Piers Gilliver return to action in the men’s sabre A, while Collis-McCann goes in the women’s equivalent.