(Wander Roberto/COB)
Brazil came up empty on the last day of individual fencing competitions at the Pan American Games in Santiago. The country’s main hope on the day, Nathalie Moellhausen, world champion in epee in 2019, was eliminated in the quarterfinals of epee to Argentina’s Isabella Di Tella. Enrico Pezzi, Victória Vizeu and Henrique Garrigos were also representatives of Brazil.
Nathalie Moellhausen falls to Argentina in the quarterfinals
The world champion started the campaign with an undefeated streak in the pools, with five wins in five games. In the round of 16, she faced Karina Dyner, from Costa Rica. During the game, Nathalie gave the Brazilian fans a scare. The athlete needed assistance at the beginning of the match, when she was 5-2 against Dyner. But back in the game, the Brazilian showed patience and experience to equalize at 8-8 at the end of the third period. With the victory going to anyone, the Brazilian showed why she is a world champion and ended the game with the tiebreaker and a score of 9 to 8.
In the fencing quarterfinals, the Brazilian faced Isabella Di Tella, from Argentina. With a nervous start, the Brazilian conceded a few touches to her opponent, who scored 5-3 at the end of the first period. Nathalie invested a lot, but she let her guard down to do so, and Di Tella didn’t forgive her. The second period ended with Di Tella also ahead, 8 to 5. In the third and final period, Nathalia went after the loss, with 30 seconds left, the score was 13 to 11. The Brazilian even tied the game, but saw the Argentina closed the score at 15-13 with less than 10 seconds on the clock.
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Pezzi stops in the round of 16
Enrico Pezzi advanced to the saber fencing knockout stage with two victories in five games. The last Brazilian alive faced the home athlete Roberto Monsalva. In a new duel between Brazil and Chile, another setback for the visitors. With a balanced duel from the start, the Chilean managed to score with difficult touches. Monsalva closed the score at 15 to 11, thus eliminating Enrico Pezzi.
Other Brazilians on fencing day
In addition to Nathalie Moellhausen, Brazil had Victória Vizeu in the women’s sword. She ended up falling in the pool round, losing 4 games and winning just one and ended up eliminated in the first phase. Henrique Garrigos, in the men’s saber, also had a poor campaign in the pools, with 4 defeats in 5 games. Thus, he finished 17th, without being able to advance to the round of 16.
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Fencing team competition
Individual disputes now give way to team competition. The first to compete are Alexandre Camargo, Fabrízio Lazzarotto and Leopoldo Gubert, in the men’s epee, and the trio Mariana Pistoia, Ana Beatriz Bulcão and Luana Pekelman compete in the women’s foil. The games are scheduled to start in the quarterfinals, at 9:30 am (Brasília time).
* Contribution: Mateus Nagime
Passionate about Olympic and Paralympic sports, graduated in Journalism from Unesp-Bauru, participated in Rio-2016 as a volunteer, covered the Tokyo-2020 Olympics for Olimpíada Todo Dia and today coordinates OTD’s Social Networks.
