Kent College Pupil Wins Two Silver Medals at Junior Commonwealth Fencing Championships

  • 9 years ago
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Kent College Pembury Izzy Turnbull Commonwealth Fencing
Izzy Turnbull

A Kent College girl has spent the last ten days in Capetown, South Africa, competing in the Commonwealth Under 20s Fencing Championships where she picked up two silver medals.

Fencing in the Commonwealth Games has meant that Isabel Turnbull, aged 17, has had the opportunity to fence against girls from all over the world. This news follows a succession of achievements for Isabel who has been fencing since she was 9 years old.  Isabel has a wealth of fencing experience, including having fenced last year in the European and World Championships and the British under 20s Championships.

Isabel got off to a great start with a clean sweep of five wins in the Poules including a 5-1 win over the top seeded South African and a 5-2 win over the top seeded Indian girl.  After such a strong Poule result Isabel was ranked first going into the knock out stage.  In the last sixteen Isabel beat the Australian number two, 15-3, and in the last eight she beat the Australian number one 15-8. Her proudest moment came in the semi-finals where she beat a Scottish girl (an old opponent), 15-12. Isabel was thrilled to have fenced in the finals of the competition, where she played extremely well, England won the silver medal after a hard fought battle with the Scottish national team.

Isabel commented: “What an amazing experience! It was worth every second of hard work”.

Isabel’s coach Phil Sheppard-Foster is the top Youth Sabre Fencing Coach in the UK, and he also coaches lunchtime Beginners Fencing Club at Kent College as part of their thriving enrichment syllabus, offering girls varied, stimulating and fun experiences – outside the classroom as well as inside. There is so much more than the statutory academic curriculum on offer for girls at Kent College with a programme of community events, Kent College Academies and an extensive extra-curricular activities programme provided throughout the week.

The Headmistress, staff and pupils at Kent College would like to wish Isabel good luck for her future competitions.

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