Trials of Sabre Distance & Victory Ceremony Protocol to be Conducted

Sabre Distance

To maintain the dynamic nature of the sabre weapon, the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee have proposed a trial of a new sabre distance.

The new distance, to be trialed following the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Rome, Italy will be the same as the current Foil measure where the point of the weapon reaches the inner edge of the opponents bent arm as follows; (Book 1 – Technical Rules. Part Two, A)

The trial will be conducted at two IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cups (to be confirmed) in the 2018 season prior to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games qualification period.

A full evaluation of the trial will be conducted before final rule changes are made by the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee.

Ceremony Protocol

The IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee propose a trial for wheelchair fencers to have the choice to either walk onto the podium and stand for the ceremony, or to continue to use their wheelchairs as per the current victory ceremony protocol.

The ceremonies will be filmed for evaluation of safety, aesthetics and organisational procedures before any final rulings will be made by the IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Executive Committee.