Brooklyn, NY (March 12, 2015) – After earning an individual bronze medal at the Basel World Cup, Romain Cannone (New York, NY) was selected to compete for France at the European Fencing Championships in Maribor, Slovenia. As Cannone explained, “just being there was a dream come true because it is really the competition everyone wants to go to.” He and his teammates took this opportunity all the way to the top, winning the Junior Champion title in the men’s epee team event.
Fourth seeded France got off to a rough start, barely beating 13th ranked Estonia by just one point. This close win put them in top 8, where they had to pull it together to face fifth ranked Switzerland. France was down by four, but Cannone scored eight points to help his team win 45-41. Next they had to defeat Israel which was ranked eighth but had just beaten Spain to take the first seed spot. Cannone was a little anxious since Israel’s Yuval Shalom Freilich, number one in the world, eliminated Cannone two days earlier, on his way to winning the individual championship. However, this time, Cannone and his teammates were unstoppable, soundly defeating Freilich and the Israeli team 45-29.
The final match against sixth seeded Hungary was very tough. France was ahead 22-21 when Cannone began the second to last bout. It was important to bring the score as close as possible to 40 without losing the lead. The Hungarians put in their best fencer, Zsombor Banyai, who won silver in the individual event. Perhaps they hoped to take advantage of France’s least experienced, first year rookie, but Cannone held his ground and even increased France’s lead to 31-29. The final bout was very intense; France was ahead 44-41 and in the last five seconds, Hungary started to make a big comeback. Still, Cannone recalled, “we just knew we were going to win.” And they did, by 1 point. With the final score of 45-44, France’s team and NYFA’s Cannone, became the 2015 European Junior Champions.
In his last international competition for the season, Cannone will be competing in the World Championship team event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on April 1.
New York Fencing Academy (NYFA) was founded in 2010 by owner and 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 four years, NYFA has produced many nationally-ranked fencers earning Champion and Finalist titles at International and National competitions, including a European Champion on the French junior national 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.
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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 