Eskrim Aktüel

Danimarka’nın Odense şehrinde devam eden Gençler Avrupa Şampiyonası korkutan bir kazaya sahne oldu.

Erkekler Flöre müsabakaları esnasında bir maskenin camı kırıldı. Kazada kimse yaralanmadı.

Konuyla ilgili açıklama şöyle:

“Serious incident with new mask  in Odense

On Sunday, the Lexan visor of a fencing mask was penetrated during the men’s foil competition at the European Junior Championships in Odense. The fencer was not fatally injured but the incident is considered very serious. The Medical Commission of the European Fencing Confederation has “for the continuation of these championships…suggested the fencers not to use the transparent masks any more”

The cause to how a hole in the visor could hape´pen will now be investigated vbut it wil take time and it will probably be difficult too identify an unambigous explanation. Plexiglass, or Lexan as it is also known, is very strong and in all durability tests masks with a visor has proven stronger than the traditional mask. To assess the risk, it is important to remember that masks with transparent visor have been used in hundreds of thousands, probably millions of training bouts and competition matches.

Reportedly, there were no unusual circumstances from a fencing point of view when the accident occured. The blade was not broken. One fencer made a “normal” lunge and hit the visor. The hit caused a hole with a diameter of about 2 cm. The attack hit close to the base of the nose above the corner of the mouth and caused substantioal bleeding.

What the consequences the recommendation of the EFC Medical Commission will have is not clear. After the accident, all particpants continued the men’s foil competition as if nothing had happened.

It is unclear what the consequences will be of the recommendation from the EFC’s medical board. All participants with visor masks continued the men´s foil competition yesterday as if nothing had happened. The possibilities to find new foil masks in Odense are likely to be very limited.

There are many guidelines for the handling of masks with transparent visor. Lexan is known to be sensitive low temperatures, contact with chemicals and tensions caused by incorrect fixation of the visor. Furthermore, the FIE rules are that Lexan visors must not be older than two years. It has been shown, however, that the masks are marked with date at the time of sale, not at the date of production, something which makes the determination of real age difficult.

At the moment, there is no known method to test that a visor still has its original strength.”