Sidmouth'S fencing mother and daughter, Lucy and Grace Williams, competed in the Plymouth Open at the weekend.

Sidmouth'S fencing mother and daughter, Lucy and Grace Williams, competed in the Plymouth Open at the weekend.In the women's' foil event Grace (17) was seeded second after winning all of her poule fights. Strong victories in the quarters (15-3) and semis (15-5) secured her a place in the final where she met the 2008 champion, Newton Abbot's Ildiko Gyanyi. After a cautious first period the score was even at 2-2. Gyanyi changed tactics in the second, dominating with strong attacks, taking the score to 10-3. Grace rallied in the third period with well timed stop hits and accurate ripostes but left it too late to close the gap, Gyanyi winning 13-8 and Grace taking the silver.In the sabre, Lucy was seeded fifth after the poules. Fencing with determination in the quarter finals she achieved a sound victory (15-7) over the number four seed who had previously beaten her in the poules. In the semis, despite a number of good ripostes, she couldn't keep up with the fast pace and clever tactics of Plymouth's Rosie Hill. Hill won the fight 15-3 and went on to win the gold, Lucy taking the bronze.The same weekend club mate Isla Findlay (17) was representing the South West as one of the region's qualifiers at the British Youth Epee Championships in Stoke on Trent.After a tough poule, containing several GB fencers, Isla was seeded 17th. She easily won her last 32 fight 15-6 against the 16th seed, but then drew number 1 seed Wellington's Jenny McGeever in the last 16. In a good fight, fencing with intelligence and tactics, Isla eventually bowed out 9-15, achieving 13th place overall.Isla and Grace are in action again this weekend at the British Youth Foil Championships.