Welsh Fencing are pleased to announce a new partnership with The Urdd (Urdd Gobaith Cymru).

In a very hot Nottingham there was real excitement in the room as old friends were reacquainted, faced each other on the piste, danced the night away in Nottingham night clubs, and came to slightly regret it in the morning!

On Wednesday 20th July 2022, Welsh Veterans Fencing Association held an EGM to vote on the proposed integration of Welsh Veterans within the auspices of Welsh Fencing. Voting took place anonymously through Survey Monkey and during the online EGM. The results were unanimous amongst those voting that the amalgamation take place. Veterans are now part of the seamless transition and progression from cadet to junior to senior to veteran age groups ensuring equal opportunities for all.

Tuesday 9^th August saw the start of a unique Commonwealth Fencing Championships at SportsDock in East London.

As a result of the postponed Cadet and Junior Championships which were due to take place in New Delhi in 2021, the organisers of CFFC2022 agreed to host, for the first time ever, a championship that incorporated all four age groups, along with, wheelchair fencing events too.

The highlights started right from the off, with a deserved L8 result for Marc Burkhalter and strong results from the rest of the SME team.

The junior fencers arrived with a palpable sense of excitement and keenness to get going. Having seen the successes of the senior fencers, they were keen to emulate their older (& wiser?) counterparts but found a number of very talented fencers from across the Commonwealth waiting for them. Bearing in mind that there were several of our cadet fencers competing an age-group up, it was very encouraging to see so many strong performances.

In individual events, there were creditable L16 places for Erin Corcoran and Georgia Howes (JWS), Bobby Childs (JMS) and Amelie Russell (JWE).

However, in the team events, this is where Team Wales showed what we could do………

Day 9 saw the start of the cadets events, and what a start it was! After some mixed results in the poules, Sameer Sunder-Rajan knocked out the no.1 seed in the L16 and then proceeded to dispatch yet more higher ranked fencers to eventually meet the GBR no.1 in the final. This was going to be a tough ask; Sameer acquitted himself admirably and came away with a well-deserved Silver medal after losing the final 6-15.

A strong cohort of the “Older, Sneakier and Wiser” veterans arrived for the final 6 days of competition, which started off with VWS and VME.