Fencer Cohen excited for 2012 after Championship win (From Your Local Guardian)

Fencer Cohen excited for 2012 after Championship win

8:00am Saturday 31st December 2011 in Local Sports Round-up By Graham Moody

Mary Cohen says she is in the form of her life after winning the British Women’s Epee Championship for the second time.

The 25-year-old beat nine-time champion Georgina Usher 15-9 in the final in Sheffield earlier this month to win the championship she first won in 2007.

It gave Cohen a happy end to a disappointing year that saw her dropped from the women’s team for the World Championships in October.

“It is so pleasing,” she said.

“It comes at the end of a pretty disappointing international season and after a lot of training.

“I upped my training from September to now and I have done so much more.

“I started a new programme where I was doing solid hours in the gym and working on my cardio, flexibility and speed.

“I really noticed a difference in my training and this was the first chance I have had to notice it in competition.

“It is my second title but my dad won five so he has told me I have three more to go.

“My first fight against Sophie Townsend was my closest, I don’t think I was ever behind in the tournament and that never happens.

“My last eight fight was a girl I was really scared of, Hannah Lawrence, I couldn’t use my best move against her because she is too fast but I controlled myself and was just determined not to let her do what she most wanted to do to me and that won the fight.

“In the final I really didn’t want to give Georgina the hits she gets in training.

“She likes to hit me under the hand but I wasn’t going to let her but that also meant I couldn’t do my best move, it surprised her and in the end it was comfortable.”

The win lifted Cohen from 17th in the British rankings to fourth and means she should now be selected in the women’s epee team for the Olympic qualifier in Doha in February. The team are not yet guaranteed a spot at the Games in August and need a good performance in Doha to be in with a chance of being given a wildcard.

“At the moment, we don’t have a lot of support for the team event as we have not had good enough results,” added Cohen.

“If we get to the last eight in Doha as a team we will turn some heads and they will think about giving us a wildcard for the Olympics.

“We are not going to qualify for the Olympics through the selection criteria, to do that we would have to win the next three world cups and that is very unlikely.

“We need to prove we are capable of winning medals for a wildcard so if we get into the last eight as a team and then last 32 or better in the individual, we will be in with a much better chance.”