Coutya opens up with gold in Amsterdam

Dimitri Coutya held on to win a dramatic foil gold at the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup with a stellar 15-10 victory over seven-time Paralympic medallist Hu Daoliang in Amsterdam.

The 22-year-old was flawless en route to the showpiece, winning all five of his pool bouts before battling past Ryuji Onda and Timur Khamatshin to reach the semi-finals.

His reward was a last-four battle against second seed and foil B Rio gold medallist Feng Yanke, a match the Brit navigated skilfully, prevailing 15-10 to set up his shot at gold.

And Coutya came out in attacking style in the final, immediately racing into a lead as the cautious, yet talkative, Hu waited to pounce on any mistake.

But the Brit was in fine fettle, seeing out the contest in professional style to wrap up top spot, avenging September’s defeat in the foil final at the Wheelchair Fencing World Championships.

Recently-crowned world champion Piers Gilliver narrowly missed out on a place in the sabre A showpiece, as he was made to settle for a share of bronze, having been defeated by China’s Jianquan Tian in the semi-finals.

He sped through his pool, losing only once in five contests, before Robert Citerne, Mikhail Karpov and Richard Osvath were beaten in the knockout stages, yet he was edged out by Tian 15-11.

The Rio silver medallist will go again in his preferred epee A discipline on Saturday.

Elsewhere, in the women’s epee A, Gemma Collis-McCann reached the quarter-finals, before being eliminated by Yevheniia Breus as she lost 15-10.