Sunderland fencing star Josh Waddell insists he will “only get better” after an eye-opening defeat against the No.1 seed at the Para Fencing European Championships in Cardiff.
The 23-year-old went down 15-7 in his last 16 epee clash against Russian Maxim Shaburov, who won Paralympic gold and silver in Tokyo five years ago.
Late-stage run in Cardiff
Waddell had beaten fellow Russian Ilia Chernyshov to move just one win away from the Cardiff quarter-finals after safely navigating his way through the pool stage. But he was outfenced by the experienced Shaburov, 30, to end his hopes in his favoured epee event.
Waddell is a fast learner and hopes analysis with his trusted coach from Durham University – where he graduated in the summer – can catapult his career forward.
Learning from the loss
“It’s always tough losing – but I’ve just got to take the positives,” he said. “I had a really good day and there were some really good aspects – I’ll take that, learn from it and move forward.”
“I’ll go back with my coach and analyse – I’m putting in the work to get better. It was a good start – getting to the last 16 in a major championships is not the easiest thing to do, but you’ve got to take that next step and we always want to keep pushing.”
“I want to be the No.1 seed – it’s good to see the gap that I still have to fill and that there were some positives from that match. I’ll only get better from here – I’ll keep improving.”
Qualification event for LA 2028
These European Championships are the first to be held in the UK since Sheffield in 2011, hosted at the Sport Wales National Centre in the shadow of Sophia Gardens. It also marks the maiden European-based qualification event for the LA2028 Paralympic Games, where Waddell hopes to make his long-awaited debut.
The north-east star was part of the Paris qualification team alongside decorated trio Dimitri Coutya, Piers Gilliver and Oliver Lam-Watson but did not feature in the French capital. He hopes to pick himself up in the individual foil and team events later this week – before turning his attention to booking his place on the transatlantic plane.
“Yes, this is a qualification event but it’s only the first of the cycle,” he added. “I just need to keep building. We’ll look back at the past a little bit and reflect on it, but we start training again next week and I’m sure we can work on it looking further forward.”
The Para Fencing European Championships, supported by funding from UK Sport through The National Lottery and Welsh Government, runs in Cardiff from 6th-11th October 2026, with athletes from across Europe competing in the first qualification event for the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympic Games.
