Fencing—Binning and Temple

We of the fencing club like to consider that we belong to the strongest University sports club in the country. With the announcement of the N.Z. team to the Empire Games in Cardiff, these incipient delusions of grandeur have been greatly encouraged. We had a fencer at the 1956 Games (Fand Flaws) another at the 1954 Games (Peter Hampton), and now two, Percy Temple and Bob Binning, have been selected for Cardiff. Both of them fully deserve their inclusion in the foil, epee and sabre teams.

Bob has been New Zealand sabre champion for the past three years without too much trouble, and looks as if he will stay at the top in that weapon for some time yet. Though a sabre specialist, he has also done very well at foil and epee. He fought for Vic at the Winter tournaments for the first time last year (coming back with an N.Z.U. Blue) and he has recently returned from the Australian championships, where he came a very good fourth in the sabre. Bob is technically accomplished, very fit, and a brainstorm on opponents' weaknesses ('wrinkles' in fencing circles). He might easily make the sabre final at Cardiff.

Percy, a foil specialist and a fairly recent convert from Christchurch, won the New Zealand foil title in 1955 and has done well in all three weapons since then. He is left-handed, fast and difficult to manage, and the same 57 fencer who has had the ability to give much more experienced fencers overseas a lot of trouble.

International fencing is, from all reports, very different from what we are accustomed to in New Zealand —rather closer to duelling than might be expected. Our two have been baptised in a fairly hard school, and should not be unduly troubled by the ferocity at Cardiff. We wish them the best of luck.