Parries, pancakes and parties in Paris
Every year in Paris, the Challenge X-Systra – a student run fencing competition organized by the École Polytechnique – hosts students from all over Europe. Those who love the sport don’t shy away from a three hour train, and so, this year went eighteen Imperial College Fencing Club members to Palaiseau, Paris.
If it was already cold in London, it had nothing on the snow-covered campus in Palaiseau. Those who love the sport also don’t shy away from climbing up a deathly hill dragging equipment and suitcases behind, because ain’t nobody got time (or money) for an Uber.
On Friday, the individual events began. After a long day of pancakes (and some fencing), the results were as follows: Women’s foil - Marie Obrowski 34th, Eshaya Lim 28th; Men’s foil - Marcel Buen 38th, Ben Fry 31st; Women’s epee - Georgie Stroud 15th, Carolina Colagrossi 13th; Men’s epee - Rohan Kamath 50th, Kirill Khraponichev 41st, Zoltan Hanesz 19th; Women’s sabre - Grace Collins 19th, Sherry Xu 6th; Men’s Sabre) - Nicholas Walker 43rd, Raymond Wang 30th, Emre Ozer 28th, David Dai 22nd, Apostolos Panagiotopoulos 16th.
On Saturday, the team events were on. The best part about team events were the names of teams: Imperial Collage, Imperial Stormtroopers, Caught off guard, The Three Moustiquaires... The Women Sabre’s team final saw Unisport Austria against Most Likely Toulouse, including fencers from Kings and our very own Sherry Xu.
The two teams fought valiantly – every time the board lit up, the audience would hold their breath, waiting for the judge’s ruling. When the right hand would lift, a roaring cheer would erupt from the seats, with many rooting for Most Likely Toulouse.
The last bout saw the points raise to 44–42 for Most Likely Toulouse. The excitement in the room was almost unbearable, but Most Likely Toulouse surprised the opposition with a last second retreat and counterattack to win the match!
That night the partying was strong with the Imperial fencers, who celebrated bringing home a team gold medal by making the most of the open bar and fireworks…
