Top athlete Leonardo Bentivogli (Zaal Treffers, Leiden) achieved an impressive quarter-final finish in the épée event at the Junior Fencing World Cup in San Salvador, El Salvador..
Ranked 104th in the world junior rankings and seeded 16th in San Salvador, he finished the preliminary round ranked 26th.
Leonardo won his first elimination bout in the Round of 64 against the Mexican Daniel Antoine Lopez, 15–8, and in the second round (Round of 32), he defeated the Serbian Vukan Radjenovic—the number 7 seed—15–6. In the third round (Round of 16), Leonardo won a thrilling match 15–14 against the Panamanian Caleb Caldito Chan, the number 10 seeded.
Ultimately, in the quarter-finals, the Canadian Junyi Michael Zhao—seeded second—proved too strong, resulting in Leonardo finishing seventh in the final standings.
This is an outstanding achievement for the Dutch fencing community, as a Dutch fencer has only rarely reached the quarter-finals in the épée event at a Junior World Cup over the past ten years.
Thanks to this outstanding result, the Leiden native has climbed into the world’s top 50 rankings. Leonardo Bentivogli now holds the number 43 spot.
