At the 2024 Tunis Foil World Cup, Penn men’s fencing senior foilist Bryce Louie represented the Red and Blue in addition to the Red, White, and Blue en route to a silver medal finish.
The FIE-organized Women's and Men's Foil World Cup is the first senior foil event of the competition season and was held this past weekend on Nov. 22-23 in Tunis, Tunisia.
In a field that consisted of around 220 fencers, the contestants first participated in a round of pool play. 33 pools were composed with 28 groups consisting of seven athletes, with the last five groups containing six athletes each. The results of pool play helped determine the bracket in which the individuals would compete in for the elimination rounds.
Louie — who claimed Penn’s first NCAA Foil National Championship since 1997 during the 2023-24 collegiate season — started off the competition strong. In his six bouts, Louie was able to win with five touches in four of them. At the end of pool play, Louie found himself ranked 42nd among the field. His positioning was good enough to earn himself a bye in the round of 256.
In the round of 128, Louie cruised past Hungary’s Andras Nemeth 15-4 before eeking out a closer match against South Korea’s Kwanghyun Lee 15-11 in the round of 64 to ensure that his competition would continue into the second day. In the round of 32, Louie was able to barely edge out Japan’s Yudai Nagano 15-14 to advance to the round of 16. There, he secured his spot in the quarterfinals by taking down Italy’s Guilio Lombardi 15-9.
A 15-12 performance against Spain’s Carlos Llavador gave Louie a semifinals berth where he handled his business against Egypt’s Mohamed Hamza — a Princeton graduate who is a three-time Olympian and currently ranked third in the world in the event. Hamza is also the reigning World Cup champion after taking home gold in Acapulco, Mexico at last year’s competition.
Upsetting Hamza set Louie up for a all-U.S. final as fellow American Alexander Massialas also secured himself a spot in the finals. There, Louie ultimately faltered, falling to Massialas in a highly contested 15-11 bout. Despite the loss, Louie was able to secure himself a silver medal to open up this season’s senior foil event competition cycle on a high note.
Louie’s silver count at this year’s World Cup was doubled when he reached the podium yet again — this time as a member of the Team USA men’s foil team. The team consisted of Louie, as well as individual gold medalist Massialas, Chase Emmer, and two-time Olympic bronze medalist and World Championship individual medalist Nick Itkin.
After receiving a bye in the round of 32, Team USA would cruise to a spot in the semifinals after taking down Belgium and Egypt with scores of 45-36 and 45-28, respectively. There, the team came head to head with Japan, which had recently won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics this past summer. Team USA was able to handle its business though with a 45-26 win to see itself into the finals.
In the finals, Louie and company were unable to upset Italy — the silver medalist from this past Olympics in the event. It came down to the wire but Italy was able to squeeze out the victory in a 45-43 match.
In a season where Penn men’s fencing has lost just once so far, Louie will return to action for the Red and Blue on Jan. 18, 2025 at the Philadelphia Invite set to be hosted at Penn’s own Tse Center. There, the senior’s journey to once again top the NCAA will continue.
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