Double gold for D’Abbraccio


A big weekend of competition resulted in three medals for the girls and a solid haul of GBR Cadet ranking points for the boys.

At the Leon Paul Junior Series in Canterbury on 26th June 2022, Izzy D’Abbraccio struck gold in the under 13 girl’s event, beating English Youth Champ Lea Panyandee-Cappelli 10-9 in the final. Izzy then went up a gear in the afternoon, storming to gold in the under 15 event with a 15-10 win over Emma Mitzova.

Team-mate Andrea Ross took a fanastic bronze in the same event in only her second-ever external competition (and after starting fencing just one year ago).

RTWFC’s competition debutants Elsa Bronbjerg and James Dunmall also fenced at the LPJS and did well to win two bouts each. Unfortunately, in the quarter-finals Elsa lost to team-mate Izzy and James got squeezed out 10-8 by eventual silver-medallist Damian Tovar; they finished 6th and 7th respectively.

Meanwhile, at the Cadet BRC in London, the considerably more experienced trio of Miles Raymond (22nd), Benedict Graham (23rd) and Lloyd Osborne (27th) all put in points-scoring performances in pursuit of a top 20 British ranking in the Cadet (under 17) category. Their exploits keep Lloyd in 14th, Benedict moves up to 23rd and Miles to 46th.

In the girls’ event the day before, Hannah Taylor and Andrea Ross both scored some great hits in finishing in 28th and 31st position and now sit in joint 67th in the national rankings, ready to deploy the invaluable experience they’ve gained next time round.

Brilliant bronze for Lloyd

A trio of talented RTWFC fencers made the trip to Hatfield for the England Youth Championships (EYC) on Saturday 11th June, and Lloyd Osborne headed south with some hard-won hardware.

First up was the indefatiguable Izzy D’Abbraccio, who competed in Poland on Thursday, in the under-13 girls’ epee. Izzy won all six of her poule bouts to get a bye through to the last 16, but then slipped on the banana skin that was Matilde Samuel-Lajeunesse in an agonising 10-9 loss. A finishing position of ninth in the national champs isn’t what izzy wanted, but it isn’t half bad.

Next up, team-mates Zach Bench and Lloyd Osbourne set to work in the boys’ under 15 epee, the former struggling at first against older, more experienced fencers before bouncing back, and the latter doing his back line ‘rope-a-dope’ routine to great effect.

Heading into the last 64, Zach was seeded 38th and took out 27th seed Leo Cook 15-13 before going down to 6th seed Robin Silk 15-7. Zach finished a creditable 31st out of 56 in his first competition at this level.

Lloyd sat in 9th after the poules, and twice squandered comfortable leads against bottom-ranked but fantastically named Osbert Weston before finally fighting his way back from the precipice to turn 12-14 into 15-14. Phew! Lloyd then took out Cowper 15-6, Hinkley 15-7 and Chiappini 15-12 to book a semi-final slot against Tristan Lumineau. Whilst rangy southpaw Lumineau, who already has bags of international experience, ran away with a 15-5 win, Lloyd learnt plenty and can now rest his aching legs and reflect on another fabulous day of fencing.

Well done, team – you make us proud every time you step on the piste.