Eve puts her Brits rivals to the sword
A SUPER act of swordsmanship has enabled a North fencing starlet to enjoy epee-ic success at national level, writes TONY HODGSON.
Newcastle Fencing Club’s Eve Aberdeen, eight, secured a silver medal at the British Under-10 Epee Championships.
She travelled to Oundle School in Peterborough to compete against the best young epee fencers in the country in the National Age Group Championships.
Eve, who still has another year to compete at this age group, showed great potential with her display of techniques and tactics to reach the final, just missing out on gold in a closely-contested final.
The youngster has been involved in fencing for four years and was a finalist in the 2016 National Leon Paul Junior Epee Series.
She also sealed a third-placed finish at last year’s IAPS Foil Championships and fenced at the Challenge Wratislavia event in Poland in March.
Eve trains at Newcastle Fencing Club three times per week under the watchful eye of her coaches and parents Iain and Nicola Aberdeen - Nicola being an international fencer in her time.
Iain Aberdeen said: “Eve fenced amazingly well during the whole competition and rose to the challenge of the British Championships.
“She scored some outstandingly skilful touches, which shows her future potential.”
However, Eve is not the only sporting success in the Aberdeen family.
Her brother Toby, 10, finished fifth at the European Championshhip Qualifers for the Great Britain triathlon team.
That means he will now be part of GB’s under-13 squad for the European Championshps in Portugal later this summer. ■■WATCH out for a feature on Toby in Grassroots Sport soon.