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Bas Verwijlen's Blog
We periodically post updates from Bas, as he travels to tournaments preparing for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
May 3, 2007
To answer your questions, my training is going well! Now the accent is on the physical part, we do a lot of cardio and spend many hours in the gym in preparation of the coming period. My goal before Paris was to be in the top 16 of the World. I am now 12th so I reached my first goal.
My latest results were in Legnano ITA and the Stockholm GP, where I finished 3rd and 6th. Both competitions went very well for me... but in both tournaments I lost by one touch against Tagliarol from Italy. He is a good fencer and we fenced a lot against each other. I beat him a few times before at some world cups but now he is beating me. He's in great shape and fencing very well.
In Stockholm, Sweden I beat Olympic Champion Fischer from Switzerland in the 128, by 15-11. In the 64 I beat the No.1 of Korea KIM with 15-7. In the 32 I beat Fernandez from Venezuela 15-4 (he won the WC in Basel the weekend before Stockholm). In the 16 I beat Ungar from USA with 15-13.
In Legnano, Italy, I had some more good bouts. I beat Canto from Spain with 15-5 in the 64. In the 32 I beat Abajo from Spain with 15-9. In the 16 I beat Janvier from France with 15-9. In the 8 I beat Font from Spain with 11-10.
I also became Military Champion for the second time! As I am a sergeant, I can compete in this competition. The picture is from the prize ceremony from the Military Championship.
I am also fencing for a French club, CIE Tourcoing. We beat CE Nevers to get into the semi-final. CE Nevers's fencers were MOUTOU, GRUMIER (Worldchampion Team) and SICOT (2nd Euro Champ. 2006). My team is: Decobecq (France), Fleury (France), Van Laecke (Belgium) and me.
I am very confident for the up-coming tournaments, we trained really hard the last months. It is harder to qualify for the Olympics from europe than from any other continent, so it will be a very tough job. I can't say which individual European fencers have a good chance for the Olympics, because the good fencers also have a good team, so they have 2 chances. Also the level of fencing is getting higher every year and there are so many good fencers from Europe and in fencing everything is possible.
Mar 18, 2007
Hi FP! I was hoping to see the team in Stockholm GP... there were a lot of FP Posters. I was in good shape and I was very happy with my result.
I was seeded 17th so unfortunately I was the first to fence the first round, I lost one match and won 5. It was by 2 touches not enough to go directly through...
In the 96 I met Fischer from Switzerland (Olympic Champion 2004) and beat him with 15-11.
My bouts the next day:
64 KIM Korea 7-15 VERWIJLEN
32 FERNANDEZ Venezuela 4-15 VERWIJLEN (last weekend he won Bern WC in the final against Fischer)
16 UNGAR Usa 11-12 VERWIJLEN
4 TAGLIARIOL Italy 11-10! VERWIJLEN (lost!)
With this result I am 12th in the World!!
Feb 16, 2007
I am training very hard everyday at our national training centre! Here are my latest results:
Jan 12-13: WorldCup Kish Island, Iran 2nd Place
My bouts were:
32 REZAEE Iran 9-15
16 BODET France 10-15
8 MEDVEDEV Ukraine 10-11
1/2 JANVIER France 7-15
In the final, I lost to DENIS (FRA), he was fencing great that day. He also beat ZAKHAROV from Belarus in the semi final.
Results:
1 DENIS FRA
2 VERWIJLEN NED
3 ZAKHAROV BLR
3 JANVIER FRA
Feb 2-3 WorldCup Legnano, Italy 3th Place
64 CANTO Spain 9-15
32 ABAJO Spain 10-15
16 JANVIER France 10-15
8 FONT Spain 11-12
1/2 TAGLIARIOL Italy 15-14
In the semi-final, I lost to TAGLIARIOL from Italy. It was a very tactical match from both sides... I knew what to do, but with my 10-8 lead I made a few mistakes. In the end he was leading 14-13, and with the time running out, I attacked with second-intention, but he made the double, so unfortunatly I lost. I knew I could have won the tournament because I felt great!
1 IMRE HUN
2 TAGLIARIOL ITA
3 VERWIJLEN NED
3 BODET FRA
My next Worldcup will be Bern, Switzerland, on March 3-4.
Currently, I'm ranked 20th on the FIE world list. The Olympic Qualification period is coming so it will be a tough time for all the fencers... but I feel great and I have great confidence in the coming period!
June 19, 2006
I got a great result here in Puerto Rico... 6th in the Grand Prix! Super result! All the big fencers were here.
I beat Bondar (Russia) 15-9... Nikishin (Ukraine) 9-8... Sepulveda (Spain) 15-14... and then lost 15-13 to Mikolajcak (Poland). Here are some great pictures of me and the Fencing Pictures mask. — greetz BAS
Mar 26, 2006
How are you? I am doing fine -- just got back from another army camp, it was tough but I'm here again.
My tournament in Poitiers went well, I beat in the first round RIVOLTA from Italy with 13-10. In the next round to get in the 16 I beat BOISSEAU from France with 15-9 very clear.
Then I had to fence LUCENAY from France, he was leading 7-6 with 30sec on the clock, I had to attack with a double parrey, I took the risk and it worked out, 7-7 with only 23sec to go, we waited for the time to get over and went into the extra time. I made a fake to the foot and slipped over the strip almost on the ground and totally out of balance. H only stretched his arm and touched me, it was a pity for me, but I am on my way back with the 10th place in POITIERS France, and I took over the 5th place on the world ranking list.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of Dutch rap that is really good. I went to a few concerts in Holland, I like it really much, just to relax and enjoy the music, mostly rap, soul hip-hop kinda music. 2 weeks ago I went to Kanye West in Rotterdam it was nice.
I am now in the 6th week of the army, 4 more to go, then I will have finished my Military school and can start working.
Last Thursday I had an International Army Fencing Competition on my base. The tournament was a ''Poule Unique'' so everybody had to fence each other to 5 points, at the end I lost 1 match and Torkildsen from Norway too. In the Final Match I beat TORKILDSEN by 5-4, in Poitiers France he finished 3th.
Mar 17, 2006 — Poitiers
Bas finished 10th at the Challenge International C. Martel in Poitiers, France!
Feb 14, 2006 — Qatar, Kuwait, and the Army
I just got back from Qatar, long trip again, I really get tired of flying, all the stop-overs haha, very boring.
Qatar was not very good, I finished 35th.
(I got the FP stuff, very cool! The Plastron is perfect, thank you very much!
The fencing bags are cool. In Qatar I fenced with the FP logo on my suit, I made it in the city.)
Kuwait was ok, in the first round i had to fence against TAGLIARIOL from Italy, he is my age and I fenced him a few times before. After I made a few touches the strategy was to defense more and let him attack, this worked out very good and I beat him 15-9.
After This match I got FEKETE from Hungary, he was in very good shape that day and I was facing a very bad scrore for me, 6-1. I recovered a little bit but it was not enough I lost 15-8, he was just better that day. I finished 18th and I was a little satisfied.
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Qatar was terrible, i had a very bad night and i was so nervous that i couldn't hold my epee even in the warm-up with my team mate. I don't know why, because my opponent was not that hard, in the first round I had to fence FALCINI from Italy, I fenced him a few times before so I knew his strategy, but because of my very bad day I couldn't even move or make a parade-riposte, so the match was not much fun I lost 15-10. I was very disappointed with my result of course because I know I am in good shape. I finished on a 35th place.
I am sure it was not the preparation, because I try to do the same every time, just chill-out with my team mates, play some games on the playstation, eat some good food, check my epees and go to sleep not to late. At the day I try to concentrate with my iPod, listen to some new dutch rap, some Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Kanye and Prodigy. Speak about the tactics with my coach. But this time it was just not my day, but I am sure the next tournament will be better.
With the team event we got 10th, we beat China, Venezuela and Kuwait that was a very good result from the Dutch team.
Too bad me and Soren had no time to speak to each other, after the team event I was looking for him but I did not find him. I hope you guys will come to Stockholm!
From tommorrow I will have to go in the army for 10 weeks, (27th of April)
so everyday I will be there. This is an education after 10 weeks I will start to work in the army.