Young fencers from Varese triumph in Imola

Imola’s “Kinder + Sport” trophy is effectively the Italian Under-14 Fencing Championship, as it is the only national team competition for this category. Consequently, the achievements of the fencers of the Varese team, during the weekend of 5 and 6 February, may be considered to be a genuine championship victory, given the results they obtained.

The boys in the “Very Young” category (for children born in 1999 and in 2000) triumphed in their tournament: Andrea Braghin, Nicola Guarnaccia, Mattia Minarini and Edoardo Tagliagambe won a series of combats that began with the preliminary heats. The first to fall to the blows of the Varese fencers were the teams from Padova, Foggia and L’Aquila; then, in the semi-final, Bologna eventually gave in, after an exhilarating battle that ended 36-34. There then followed an equally balanced final, in which Varese beat the Farnesiana team from Parma, 36-33.

“Our lads competed as a real team,” said the national coach, Simone Sartorelli, who, together with Andrea Giuliani, led the foursome to victory. “They all expressed their own personalities, which are quite different, and courage that enabled them to win a very balanced competition.”

The Gold in the “Very Young” category was not the only success. The Youth team (1997-1998), consisting of Marco Boschini, Andrea Lavorgna and Sebastiano Nardin, also achieved an excellent result, coming third. They were only just beaten (45-43) in the semi-final by CS Roma, and in the final for third place, they got the upper hand over the Ariccia team (45-31) to win a well-deserved Bronze.

It was a weekend to remember for the fencers of Varese, who displayed the strength of their team and confirmed the excellence of fencing in Varese schools, which, for years now, has been under the leadership of Antonio Pagano, with the collaboration of the instructors Sartorelli, Giuliani, Fraoni and Capriati. After these excellent results, the hope of the club chaired by Massimo Pozzi is to see an increasing number of young people taking part in this sport. And so, there is a standing invitation to come and try it out, in the Sala d’Armi “M. Ghezzi”, in Via Donatello 1, in Varese, from Monday to Friday, after 5 p.m. For information, just call the number 0332 831470.