Irish Open Championships

For the 7th time, Ireland will be hosting this weekend an FIE (International Fencing Federation) Satellite Competition at Mens Epee at UCD Sports Centre, Belfield.. The top 8 in this competition will be awarded world ranking points and will also be awarded points in the Coupe du Nord ranking system.

There is an entry of 47 fencers, 27 of whom are Irish. A total of 11 countries (including Ireland) are represented: Brazil, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mauritius, Panama, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia

The format of the competition will be a first round of 7 pools of 7 or 6 fencers - this round is used to establish a seeding for the second round, and no fencers will be eliminated from this first round. The second round of 7 pools of 7 or 6 fencers will be seeded from the results of the first round. The last 12 will then be eliminated and the top 35 from the 2nd pool round will go forward into an incomplete direct elimination table of 64 fencers, where the no. 1 seed will meet no. 64, and so on, until 4 fencers remain. There will then be 2 semi-final matches and a final.

In addition to the Mens Epee event, the Womens Foil and Womens Epee will take place on Saturday 7th, with the Mens Foil, Mens Sabre and Womens Sabre on Sunday.

The equipment needed to run this competition has mainly been funded from the Lottery.