WUXI, China, April 12, 2025 – Fencing for the Planet 2025 was celebrated worldwide today. In Wuxi, China, where the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships are taking place, FIE officials were hosted at a local school and its students, joined by members of the Chinese Fencing Federation, to symbolically plant a tree and emphasize shared support and commitment to the FIE’s sustainability and environmental initiatives.
“The children were amazing, and our programmes range from kids like these at schools to Olympians in support of Fencing for the Planet”, said FIE Secretary-General Ms. Gulnora Saidova. “We share and follow the IOC dedication and mandate to sustainability, and along with our member federations around the world, we embrace all the sports federations of the world to do all we can for the Earth and its environment. We are doing this to ensure a healthy and thriving world for many generations of athletes to come.”
Uzbekistan fencer Luisa Fernanda Herrera Lara, who participated in the tree planting, said, “Planting this tree symbolizes us growing as a community and growing together, and our commitment to future generations of a sustainable planet.”
School and local officials also participated in the event, as well as FIE Vice President Donald Anthony Jr. and Henriette Tamas; FIE Executive Committee Member and Chinese Fencing Federation President Haibin Wang; FIE Executive Asian Fencing Confederation President His Highness Sheikh Salem Bin Sultan Alqasimi; and FIE Administration Director Elena Murdaca. Chinese local authorities and VIPs included Liming DU, Party Secretary and Director of the Education Bureau, Wuxi Economic Development District; Ke Qian, Deputy Director and Member of the Party Committee of the Education Bureau of Wuxi Economic Development District; Lifeng Ying, Director of the Bureau of Social Affairs, Wuxi Economic Development District; Liang Zhang, Deputy Director, Bureau of Social Affairs, Wuxi Economic Development District; Xueyi Rao, 2025 Heraklion World Cup women’s team sabre gold medallist; Qimiao Pan, Riyadh 2024 junior women’s sabre world champion; Ying Chen, FIE Junior World Cup women’s sabre bronze medallist and National Junior Champion; and Chenyi Wang, Team Champion member of the Chinese National Fencing Championships.
Other fencers, VIPs and officials participating in the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships echoed these sentiments.
Valentina Vezzali, Italian Olympic and world champion, and Chief of Mission for the Italian Federation in Wuxi, said, “Every touch for the environment is a lunge toward the future of our planet.”
French fencer Numa Crist agreed. “At competitions, more and more plastic bottle are found in the stands and using reusable bottles reduces waste and is more environmentally friendly”, he said. “Recycling fencing material and gear, giving it to younger fencers, helps keeps good material going. It’s important to have a future because without taking all these actions we won’t be able to go to World Cups all around the world.”
Gary Lu, President of Absolute Fencing Gear and official Wuxi 2025 sponsor, said, “We work to integrate sustainability in everything we do, from our manufacturing of fencing equipment to how we designed and executed the plans and operations for the Wuxi 2025 Championships. Recycling, keeping the lowest-possible carbon footprint and being environmentally conscientious is always an important factor in everything we do. This helps ensure future generations of fencers may enjoy the benefits of sustainability and a healthy planet.”
“Fencing for the planet is important because we travel all over the globe as athletes, and our generation is responsible for the next generation of athletes”, said Singapore fencer Lemuel Jing Yoo Huang. “Some of the initiatives that the fencing community has come up with, such as using recycled materials for our equipment such as shoes, even some fencing bags, that’s a great step towards being conscious toward the climate state of the world right now.”
“We need to protect the environment for the next generations so the Earth can be better and last as long as possible with a good world and we need to be very careful about what we do”, stated FIE referee Florence Ducarme.
Fencing for the Planet is official celebrated annually on Saturday of the second weekend in April.