Golden start to Tokyo 2020 Paralympic year for wheelchair fencer Dimitri Coutya as Piers Gilliver joins him on podium at Eger World Cup
University of Bath-based Dimitri Coutya began the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic year in style with victory on the opening day of the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in Eger, Hungary.
It was a fourth successive World Cup gold medal in the Category B Foil for Coutya, who defeated Poland’s Jacek Gaworski 15-11 in Thursday’s final after being in dominant form throughout the competition.
The world number one defeated Japan’s Michinobo Fujita 15-8 and Russians Timur Khamatshin and Albert Kamalov, 15-7 and 15-9 respectively, en route to his meeting with sixth seed Gaworski in Hungary.
Coutya made a flying start to the final, racing into an 8-1 lead before being pegged back to 9-8, but he recovered to win six of the final nine duels to clinch success.
Training partner Piers Gilliver was also on the podium on the opening day of competition in Eger, claiming a bronze medal in the Category A Sabre.
He claimed fine wins against Romain Noble (15-6) and Maurice Schmidt (15-10) before being defeated 15-7 by Russia’s Viktor Dronov in the semi-finals.
Both Coutya and Gilliver – who are coached by Peter Rome on the EIS Wheelchair Fencing World-Class Programme based at the University’s Sports Training Village – will be looking to add to their medal tally when they compete in the epee competitions on Friday and Saturday respectively.
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