THE Amsterdam World Cup Satellite Sabre Tournament saw Taunton Blades' Nat Lewis make the long drive to take on top European and US fighters, in only his second senior international event.

He came through the arduous 12-fight qualifying rounds in fine shape, claiming some high-profile scalps on his way to fifth seeding for the direct elimination stages - a great step forward.

The 17-year-old then made the last 32 to meet Holland's Nico Speelman, who he beat 15-11, going through to meet Mika Roman, the Finnish number one.

A great performance there put him through to the last eight, and a tense battle with German star Lennert Brandt.

The encounter went almost point for point to 14-14, when Nat rejected playing safe, and opted for a bold timing hit, which was successful.

This gave him a fairly Herculean task in the semi-finals - a first ever meeting with and subsequent unsurprising defeat by Roumanian ace Constantin Sandu, Nat's elder by 13 years, and a lot more experienced at this level.

The master-class' was accepted with good grace by the youngster, who learned a lot from the experience, along with compliments on his performance.

He was soon to see Sandu lift the title with some ease from the Italian Alessio Bonino.

Nat recieved his first Senior World Cup points for his splendid third place, and is now the second youngest sabre fencer in the top 250 senior world rankings, a great achievement.