IAS LoneStar Fencing Athlete Courtney Buchanan has just returned from competing The Cadet Asian Fencing Championships that took place in Korat, Thailand.
The Asian Championships drew a total of 330 competitors from 27 countries with each country only allowed to send a maximum of 4 fencers per gender and weapon. The format for the competition is individual competition followed by the teams event. The bottom 20% of the fencers are directly eliminated in the individual event and do not progress to the direct elimination bouts.
Arguably one of the toughest international competitions for Aussie fencers, second only to the World Championships.
Buchanan had a nervous start in the individual competition but overcame her nerves to qualify for the direct elimination rounds finishing well in the middle of the individual rankings. It was a massive learning curve in terms of controlling nerves but one she was able to use when they teams event took place.
The Aussie team of Buchanan, Violet Hull, Michela Sicari and Miya Herman, made the quarter finals after a strong victory over the United Arab Emirates team and drew the 2nd seed Hong Kong. In a match that was expected to go Hong Kong’s way the Aussie girls put up a huge fight and stuck with the Hong Kong team right up to the final period. The match was marked by many calls to the video referee and contested calls by both teams.
The team then fenced an exhaustive round to secure final placings. They fenced Philippines and Buchanan was subbed in as the anchor when team mate Hull was withdrawn injured. The girls battled to get ahead in this match but Philippines took the lead early and managed to hold it. Nonetheless, the final anchor bout of Buchanan vs Esteban is the one Courtney is most pleased about with a tight tussle of 3-4 to conclude the match against one of the best young fencers in Asia. It was also Buchanan’s first experience in the anchor role at an international event.
Reduced to just 3 fencers, the girls then took on Taipei and Buchanan was first fencer for the team. The girls finished strongly with a 10 point victory and retained a top 8 final place of 7th in the Asian competition.
Buchanan’s next major competition is later in the year in Adelaide at the U23 National Championships
