Longsight Paralympian hails successful start to Cardiff Europeans after opening day bronzes

Justine Moore and Britain’s para fencing stars believe their battling bronze medals can lay the foundations for a memorable week at the European Championships.

Longsight’s Moore, 34, was part of the mixed epee and foil teams who claimed a pair of podium finishes on the opening day of competition in Cardiff.

Moore combined with Piers Gilliver, Dimitri Coutya and Gemma Collis in the mixed epee event to beat Italy in a bout for bronze and bounce back from their semi-final defeat against Poland.

And just a couple of hours later, Moore, Coutya, Collis and Oliver Lam-Watson joined forces to beat France to the final place on the podium after a last four defeat to Hungary.

Paralympian Moore, who competed at London 2012, goes again in her individual events throughout the week and hopes to continue the momentum in what marks the maiden European-based qualification event for the LA2028 Paralympic Games.

“I’m really happy with how we all performed as a team,” she said. “It’s a great start for us all – we all did well in each match.

“I feel prepared, focused and I’m going to give it my all to do really well for the rest of the week.”

Double Paris Paralympic champion Coutya, 28, said: “It was a really good team effort from us today. I’m really proud of how everyone fenced.

“We put in a lot of work for this over the summer, so to come home with a bronze on home soil is really great. Doing two events back-to-back is mentally really tough.

“Even though they’re shorter, condensed versions, it’s a big ask of everyone. But I’m proud of everyone the way they handled it, so it’s more positives for the rest of the week.”

Ukraine beat Poland to claim the opening gold up for grabs at the Sport Wales National Centre, which is hosting the first