Brooklyn, NY (January 22, 2014) – On January 20th, 16-year-old Romain Cannone (New York, NY) established his reputation as a fencing prodigy when he became the youngest champion of a Junior Men’s Epee North American Cup (NAC) this season, competing against 180 athletes ages 20 and under. Cannone defeated Justin Yoo (Southern California) in a dramatic match, coming from a 13-14 deficit to win the gold medal with a score of 15-14. Cannone also took an impressive 9th place out of 255 of the top adult Men’s Epee fencers in the Division I NAC the same weekend.
Ranked third in the world in Cadets (ages 17 and under), Cannone was seeded 37th at the start of the NAC and won 3 out of 4 pool bouts, earning the 36th seed to advance to direct eliminations. Cannone said, “the pools were very interesting – it wasn’t easy and even though I finished well, it showed me that I had to really work hard if I wanted to do good today.”
He started by defeating Mick Yamanaka (Long Island, NY), and out touched Wesley Johnson (Utah-S.Idaho) 14-13. Cannone said “The most stressful bout was with Johnson since I was leading 12-7 and then he made a nice come back. I was very happy to win in priority and after, I knew if I work hard I would do good.” Then Cannone went on to beat top Princeton University fencer and number one rated USA junior, Alex House (New England) 15-3. He followed the strong victory with a 15-14 win over Justin Yoo, USA national team member and winner of the Chalons, France Cadet European Cup. Cannone lost to Yoo in Chalons to make top 2. “After I saw I was going against Justin in the final, I knew it would be interesting as we have a history and I really wanted revenge after France.”
Previously, Cannone won the Cadet European Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia earlier this month, and the Cadet North American Cup in Dallas in December. He will fence in the Gothenburg, Sweden European Cup next month, followed by the Cadet World Championship in Plovdiv, Bulgaria this spring.
New York Fencing Academy (NYFA) was founded in 2010 by Head Coach Misha Mokretsov and is located in Brooklyn, NY. NYFA is quickly becoming a center for excellence in epee, with one of the strongest competitive epee youth and cadet programs in the tri-state area. In just three years, NYFA has produced many nationally-ranked fencers earning Champion and Finalist titles at International and National competitions, including a fencer on the French Cadet Team. NYFA provides private lessons, group classes, and camps for students of all ages and all levels, beginners to advanced. Visit www.fencenyfa.com for more info.
###
Contact: Misha Mokretsov
Company: New York Fencing Academy
Address: 2896 W 12th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11224
Club Phone: (718) 996-0426
Cell Phone: (347) 741-1343
Email: info.nyfa@gmail.com
Website: http://www.fencenyfa.com
NEW YORK FENCING ACADEMY 