Today, I competed in my local open, the Sussex Open in Portslade and it was nice not to have to trek halfway across the country to fence.

My poule was quite tough and I was nervous about having to fence a close friend of mine; we hadn’t fenced each other for a while and usually our fights our quite close. Fortunately, when the time came, I managed to hold my ground and cam out with a 5-3 win. I then won the rest of my fights which resulted in me being seeded 1st overall.

After a bye through the first round, I came up against a German fencer I’d never fenced before. It took me a few minutes to adjust to her style but I soon managed to take a lead and ended up winning the fight 15-6.

I won all my DEs and in the semi-final, I was drawn my friend from the poule. In what was probably my hardest fight of the day, I struggled to maintain my initial lead and fell behind by four points. But after the break, I collected my thoughts and quickly managed to close the gap so that we were even. From that point on, the score remained level until we reached 14-14. After a few tense minutes, I managed to score the final hit and won the match, securing my place in the final. The final was a little tough at first as I was still reeling from the previous bout, however I soon focused myself and pulled away to win 15-7.

It was great to win an open again, especially as I also won the “Best Under 18” medal on top of my Gold and I now have a 3 week break to look forward to until my next competition, the Allstar Open.