Swindon’s Cador Beautyman took home the bronze medal in the first European Fencing Cadet Circuit of the 2022-22 season, which took place in Budapest, Hungary.
Cador’s first European medal was made all the more special by being able to share the podium with Denys Lavrentiev, a Ukrainian boy who Cador’s mother had helped move to Swindon from Ukraine when war broke out there, who went on to win the competition.
The first event of the season saw a strong field of over 290 fencers from all over Europe, as well as Israel and Qatar.
After coming through the poule with 5 wins and 1 loss, Cador was ranked 31 going into the direct elimination round and received a bye into the round of 128.
He had a strong victory over Hungary’s Orsi 15-8 and was in control against Charbonnet from Switzerland 15-11 to then meet the Ukrainian and number 2 seed Mykytenko in the round of 32 which he went on to win 15-13.
His last 16 match saw him drawn with Great Britain teammate Sameer Sunder-Rajan with the Swindonian coming out on top 15-8.
After winning in the quarter-finals against Israel’s Khaperskiy 15-13, Cador went into the semi-final facing his housemate, Denys.
The Ukrainian defeated Cador 15-4 before going on to win the competition.
Cador’s mother said “I can’t believe we took two boys to this enormous event and came away with two podium finishes.
“It’s a great reward for the hard work these boys put in every week. It was lovely to see Denys be able to catch up with his Ukrainian team mates, most of whom he hasn’t seen since he left the country”.
The boys will travel to Serbia together in two weeks time for the next leg of the circuit.
