Gilliver tops podium yet again
Piers Gilliver topped the Category A Epee podium for a ninth time in 13 international competitions as the University of Bath-based wheelchair fencer claimed his second medal at the IWAS World Cup in Eger, Hungary.
After winning bronze in the sabre last week, the reigning World Champion once again dominated the epee and conceded just 21 hits during the knockout phases on his way to another gold. After beating Poland’s Norbert Calka 15-5, Gilliver raced to a 15-2 victory over Ukraine’s Maksym Mahula before booking his place in the final with a 15-5 defeat of Germany’s Maurice Schmidt.
That set up another meeting with number two seed Maxim Shaburov of Russia, their third final in five World Cups, and Gilliver once again came out on top with an impressive 15-9 victory.
It meant that wheelchair athletes based on the EIS World Class Programme at the University of Bath finished the first World Cup of 2020 with three medals, following Dimitri Coutya’s gold in the Category B Foil last Thursday.
The wheelchair fencing squad were among athletes and support staff aspiring to go to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games who have benefitted from Japanese culture education sessions provided by the University of Bath in partnership with the English Institute of Sport (EIS).
The highly-respected Skills Centre (Foreign Languages) has been delivering introductory classes on Japanese culture on subjects such as getting around, currency and basic words and practical.
The sessions are the first of their kind to be delivered to all sports based at the university and it is hoped that the relationship can continue over the coming years as athletes prepare for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in 2022, the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024 and other major events held across the world.
Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at Team Bath, is delighted at how well the sessions have been received.
He said: “One of the fantastic benefits of the University of Bath is that we can offer world-class training facilities alongside world-class education but we’ve never taken advantage of this before by proactively putting on specific education sessions for our athletes aiming for a Games.
“The EIS are experts in performance preparation and have a base here at Team Bath, and we are delighted that they have teamed up with the University in this way. Given how successful the sessions have been with athletes and support staff alike, I think we will look at a more structured programme ahead of future major events.”
Isabella Stefanutti, head of the foreign languages centre at the University of Bath said: “This was an interesting new initiative for us and I’d like to thank our Japanese teacher, Satoko Suzui, for the time and support given.”