CSB - David Elder - President Fencing New Zealand

From the 12th to 19th of July many of the best young sword fencers from around the world
will be competing in Christchurch New Zealand in the Commonwealth Cadet (U-17) and
Junior (U-20) Fencing Championships.
Over three hundred and fifty top representative athletes from thirteen countries from
around the globe will be here in New Zealand fighting to become the next
Commonwealth Champion.
All three Olympic disciplines: Foil, Epee and Sabre, will be contested in gender specific
competition, with the finals of the Individual Junior (U20) Events scheduled to air on SKY.
This will be the biggest Fencing Event ever to be held in New Zealand and will be held at
the Christchurch Netball Centre, Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub, Augustine Drive, Wigram,
Christchurch 8025. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport
twelve away from eight o'clock here on the Country Sport Breakfast.
One of the biggest, in fact the biggest fencing event
ever to be held in New Zealand. It's happening in
Christchurch at the Netball Center in Christchurch from the twelfth
to the nineteenth of July. Joining us out of Fencing
New Zealand, David Old the morning, David.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Good Abram, how are you doing.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Very very well? Thank you. This is huge for New Zealand,
isn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
This is massive. I mean, fencing has been an Olympic
sport since the very start of the Olympics, and it's
still going. You'll see it ogether all over the coverage
of the Olympics later this month. And yeah, so we've
got the Commonwealth Junior and Cadet which is under twenties
and under seventeen's the championship and yeah, it's here from

(00:48):
the twelfth to the nineteenth of July, so it starts
next Friday. We've got thirteen different Commonwealth countries coming over
three hundred and fifty athletes and fencing is like any sport.
When you made that eleaite level. We're talking elite athletes.
We're talking some massively experienced and well known athletes, and

(01:09):
of course, you know, we're only a few weeks after
from the Olympics, so it's the last chance for some
of them to get some good practice and they're coming
to the other end of the world to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Fencing doesn't really get a lot of publicity in New Zealand,
does it.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
What's the state of play with fencing?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
So we have around five hundred affiliated fences up and
down the country. They have tournaments all over the country,
usually in the major centers. We just had the President's
Cup here in Auckland, which is the second biggest senior event.
We had Northolind Champs in fielding, which was pretty fancabulous.
I have to point out we're talking fencing with swords,

(01:48):
not the traditional New Zealand farming fences.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
I totally agree.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
This is kind of a farming sports show, so we
can't get the two confused.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, we have national events, we have
regional events just all up and down the country, all around.
I think we shipped one hundred and eighty thousand dollars
worth of equipment in to run this tournament doing our
sponsors Leon Paul and Mainland Fencing and a few others

(02:18):
have helped us. And one of the big things for us,
speaking of the Olympics is we have a lady called
Arena Caniche. Arena is the head of the International Refereeing Committee.
So she finishes here on the seventeenth she flies home
to Austria and then straight to Paris because she's the

(02:39):
lady in charge of the Grand Palais in Paris.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
See that's amazing, isn't it. That's amazing.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Is there any Is there any one particular? I mean,
I suppose you start at school Livell. Is there any
one part of the country or a school that is strong.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
School wise? Man David Grammar in Auckland is very strong
in fa, which is so there are three disciplines, spoil
and sober. McLain's are very strong in sober. Kirsten is
very strong in foil. Up and down the country. There
are schools Prussiage Boys, Scott's College and Wellington. So yeah,

(03:17):
it's up and down the country, very very very strong
fielding high school. I've got an amazing saber team that
are doing very well on the national ranking.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
You mentioned, Yeah, thirteen countries, one hundred and over, three
hundred and fifty top representatives from all those countries.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
That's it. Yeah, And we've got people from the UK,
from England, from Scotland, from Wales, from Ghana, from Singapore,
Australia obviously all coming in and all getting really pumped.
It's a huge event. At the last one two years
ago in the men's the New Zealand team, it's last

(03:59):
time I spoke to you. I've been up till four
o'clock in the morning watching them and then we talked
to each other soon after. So they won the silver
beat Australian in the Semis and went up here in
the UK in the final. We've also got a young man,
Cooper Guge out of Wellington On who made the bronze

(04:20):
medal at the last Under seventeen. He'll be competing in
the under twenties SIS time round. And yet we've got
a very strong, particularly FA team, but our Foil and
Saber teams are also pretty spectacular. We've got a young
man who Chinese gentleman Alex Wu fourteen years old, was

(04:43):
stunning and he has just thank you to the ministers
or to Parliament he has now in New Zealand, citizen
and all. We're competing with the Fern for the first time.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Fantastic, fantastic and it's going to be well actually be
able to watch it on Sky apparently as well.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
You'll get coverage on Sky.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
We're hoping to so still in the final stages of that,
but should be. Yeah. And it's all at the Prostage
Netball Center, Napuna, Wisports, Harbord and christ Church from next
Friday the nineteenth.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Sorry the twelfth, Yeah, twelve through the nineteenth best young
sword fences from around the world in christ Church. Going
to be absolutely brilliant. David, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Mate.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Okay, David Elder

Speaker 1 (05:27):
President of Fencing New Zealand talking about presidents and CEO