Just three GB athletes made the trip to Italy, with Piers Gilliver, Gemma Collis and Dan Smith having to fund their own travel after Government agency UK Sport cut their funding in February.

They still sealed a record medal haul in preparation for next month's European Championships in Strasbourg.

Gilliver led the way for the team as he stormed to his first World Cup silver medal in the men's class A foil with wins over Italian Alberto Pellegrini, word number three Wing Kin Chan of Hong Kong and Italy's Matteo Betti en route to the final.

There he met world number one Richard Osvath of Hungary, who proved a step too far for the Briton as the Hungarian edged to a 15-8 victory and the gold medal.

Piers Gilliver secured a silver and bronze at the Lonato Wheelchair Fencing World Cup, helping Great Britain to its best ever medal haul at a World Cup event ©Getty Images



Gilliver followed up his silver by securing a bronze on the second day of action in the men's class A epee.

This competition saw Gilliver progress to the semi-final where he missed out on a second final of the World Cup after defeat at the hands of Poland's world number five Norbert Calka 12-15.

Calka would go on to lose the gold medal final to France's Romain Noble who finished the World Cup with two titles after further success in the men's class a sabre event.

Collis added the nation's third and final medal of the tournament as she was beaten 14-15 in an agonisingly close semi-final encounter with eventual gold medal winner and seven-time Paralympic champion Chui Yee Yu of Hong Kong.

The Briton has booked her spot in the semis after beating France's Marine Ecorchon in the last eight.

The medal, which was in the women's class a epee event, was a first for Collis on the World Cup stage.

As for Smith, he progressed to his first World Cup quarter-final in the class b sabre event, in what was just his third ever international event.

The gold medal in this event would fall to Poland's Adrian Castro after he defeated Italian Alessio Sari in the final.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]