OLYMPIOS Gougoulias struck gold after winning the men’s sabre event at the Birmingham International Fencing Tournament.
The 22-year-old economics student, from Stratford, won his first event since returning from injury while fellow Shakespeare’s Swords teammate Louis Bedford won bronze.
Stratford fencers Barnaby Halliwell and Liam Croft placed seventh and 20th respectively.
Gougoulias said: “This is always a tough competition attracting some of the best fencers on the domestic and international circuits.
“I was really pleased how I performed and was delighted to walk away with the top prize.
“The season started well for me with a good run of placements, including winning another of the premier events of the season, the Welsh Open.
“I had climbed up the GBR rankings and firmly established my place in the main men’s GBR sabre squad, in what is only my second year at senior level.
“Then a tiny fracture in my hand put me out of action for two months, forcing me to miss key international pre-Olympic events in France and Tunisia.
“Although having fenced over the last few weeks for GBR in Italy, Georgia and Hungary this is my first win since returning and hopefully sets me up for a strong end to the season.”
Gougoulias has his sights firmly set on competing well at National Championships later this month with GBR selection for World Cup events in Japan and Spain to come as well as the under-23 European Championships in Turkey this summer.
