ARMENIAN YOUTH FENCING CHAMPIONSHIP LAUNCHED IN BYUREGHAVAN
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.02.2010 15:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Youth Fencing Championship launched on
February 4 in Byureghavan will continue until February 6. As Artashes
Madoyan, general secretary of Armenian Fencing Federation told a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, 51 athletes fight for the Armenian rapier
champion title on the first day of the tournament. Athletes represent
‘Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor and Byuregavan. The winners will be known
today," Madoyan said.
Rapier (Fencing) sports Fencing is a family of sports and activities
that feature armed combat involving cutting, stabbing, or bludgeoning
weapons that are directly manipulated by hand, rather than shot,
thrown or positioned. Examples include swords, knives, pikes,
bayonets, batons, clubs, and similar weapons. In contemporary common
usage, fencing tends to refer specifically to European schools of
swordsmanship and to the modern Olympic sport that has evolved out
of them.
Fencing is one of the four sports which has been featured at every
modern Olympic Games. Currently, three types of weapon are used in
Olympic fencing:
* Foil – a light thrusting weapon; the valid target is restricted
to the torso, the chest, shoulders, and back; double touches are not
allowed (see priority rules below). This weapon follows the rule of
"right of way" * E’pe’e – a heavy thrusting weapon; the valid target
area covers the entire body; double touches are allowed. There is no
"right of way" * Sabre – a light cutting and thrusting weapon; the
valid target area is the saddle line, which is from one side of your
hip to the other and up, this also includes the head. The target area
does not include the hands. This weapon follows "right of way"
The word fence was originally a shortening of the Middle English
defens, which came from an Italian word, defensio, in origin a
Latin word. The first known use of defens in reference to English
swordsmanship is in William Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor:
"Alas sir, I cannot fence."