Last week the men’s 2s descended on King’s College for their third match of the season. The importance of this match cannot be underestimated: Imperial’s pride was at stake after the 1s narrowly lost to their counterparts at King’s the week before. Foil kicked things off for the 2s, showing our superiority by smashing King’s with a score of 45-10. Confident going into epee (one fencer forced to use their non-dominant hand), Imperial won 45-38 after our final fencer was subbed off until he could find a weapon to fence with. Victory was completed with a 45-35 win in sabre, putting the final score at 135-83, keeping up the winning margins for the men’s 2s for yet another week and propelling the team to the top of their league. A mention must go to Cosmin Badea, who normally only fences foil for the team and who was called upon to fence all three weapons. He stormed his way through all his opponents and was vital in our victory. What a trooper!

The men’s 1s were fencing that day against Kent, looking for their second win of the season after a close win against Queen Mary 1s 130-125 and the aforementioned loss to King’s. After relegation last year the team were looking to bounce right back up to the Premiership, so every win is vital. Epee to begin, and with the possibility of double hits, getting a large lead is challenging. However Imperial fencers James Odgers and Charles Morot got +12 and +13 indicators each (the best you can get when constantly winning is +15), leading to an epee score of 45-16. Second up was foil and after a win of 45-23 Imperial had already won the match in similar fashion to Germany against Brazil in the 2014 football world cup. Sabre didn’t want to miss out on this magnificent performance and after +14 indicators for Will Moore and Chris Erickson, stormed to a 45-16 victory, giving an overall score of 135-55.

Topping off a great week for IC Fencing was Ailsa Morrison who, at the weekend, represented Scotland in the women’s foil event of the five Nations in Manchester. Scotland finished 3rd in the event and 2nd overall. Well done everyone and keep up the good work. Do or do not, there is no try!