Sport Week: Intro to wheelchair fencing

Wheelchair fencing was developed by Sir Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic Games. Having featured at the International Stoke Mandeville Games in Great Britain in 1955, the sport was then on the programme at the very first Paralympics in 1960.

Today wheelchair fencing is governed by the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS)

Starting positions

In wheelchair fencing, the competitors’ wheelchairs are firmly fixed to a metal frame in the competition area, which is known as the “piste.”

Given the fast and furious nature of the sport, competitors are required to wear a protective mask, gloves and jacket at all times. In the epee event, a metal-lined apron is used to protect the fencers’ legs and wheelchairs.

The fencers start with blades raised in the “en garde” position. This position is held until the referee calls “play” and the bout begins.

Events and weapons

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, 14 wheelchair fencing medals will be available across individual and team events.

Events are divided across three weapons – epee, foil and sabre.

The epee is the heaviest weapon at 770g and is more rigid than the other swords. Points are scored by touching the tip of the blade on any part of the opponent’s body above the waist.

The foil is lighter and highly flexible. In the foil event, points are awarded for landing the tip of the blade on the opponent’s torso, but not the limbs or head.

The sabre has a short, flexible blade and differs from the other events in that points are scored by hitting the opponent with the cutting edge, the flat or the back of the blade.

Duration and scoring

An electronic scoring system registers when a hit has been successfully landed and the scoreboard updates accordingly.

In the early pool rounds, the winner is the first fencer to reach five points or the fencer with the highest score after a single bout of three minutes.

In the direct elimination rounds, the victor is the first to 15 points or whoever has the most points after three bouts of three minutes.

In team matches, teams are made up of three fencers. Each fencer faces each opponent in the other team in a single bout of three minutes. The winning team is the team with the most points when the time is up, or the first to reach a cumulative score of 45 points.

Classification

At the Paralympic Games, wheelchair fencers compete in two classifications:

• Class A athletes have good trunk control, allowing them to bend forward and sideways explosively when attacking their opponent or dodging an attack.

• Class B have an impairment that impacts their legs as well as their trunk or their fencing arm.

A dedicated article on wheelchair fencing classification will be published later on the IPC website in this Sport Week feature series.

Key terms to know

The initial offensive the fencer makes by extending the arm and continuously threatening the opponent’s target is known as the “attack.” This precedes the launching of a lunge or “fleche.”

A “parry” is when a fencer blocks an opponent’s attack with his/her weapon.

The “riposte” is a counter-offensive move made by the fencer who has parried the attack.

Helpful links:

IPC wheelchair fencing webpage

IWAS website

Rio 2016 wheelchair fencing webpage

Editor’s note: Each sport on the Rio 2016 Paralympic programme will have a dedicated week of featured content published on paralympic.org. Every week a new sport will be featured and the series will run until September’s Games, helping the public understand more about the 22 sports being contested in Rio.

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Sport fans from around the world can now buy their Paralympic tickets for Rio 2016 from authorised ticket resellers (ATRs)

The IPC’s Global ATR is Jet Set Sports, and Rio 2016 tickets and packages can be purchased on the CoSport website.

Residents of Brazil can buy 2016 Paralympics tickets directly from the Rio 2016 website.

Visa International is the exclusive payment card and the official payment system for the Paralympic Games.