Sweet success for busy Izzy in Bulgaria, and dad did okay as well!

​The under 14 national champion came out on top of 61 entrants in the ‘Chocolate International Fencing Festival’, including a number of fencers who competed for their country at this year’s Under 17 European and World Championships.

Isabella won 2 of 5 bouts to narrowly make it through the first round to be seeded 42 going into the knock-out rounds.

Her low seed meant she had to take out high seeds to proceed through the event and she started with a 15-7 win over the 23rd seed, followed by a 15-8 win over the 10th seed, a 15-8 win over the 7th seed, a 15-11 win against the 15th seed and a 15-6 win against the 3rd seed in the semi-final.

The final saw her matched against top seed Monika Nedeva from Bulgaria and after a tough fight Isabella won 15-13.

The following day Isabella competed in the European Circuit Under 14 event. She qualified as the second seed and won by 15-10, 15-5, 15-11 and 15-11 before beating Zulal Can from Turkey 15-13 in the final.

Isabella is now ranked second under 14 in Europe.

**Father Chris Howser, who usually coaches rather than competes, fisnihed an excellent 16th out of 224 in the European Veterans Championships (50-60 year olds category) in Theonville, France.

**Anyone interested in sponsoring Isabella, who also competes in modern pentathlon as well as fencing, can contact [email protected].