USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Athletes from 46 countries, including 26 past World and Olympic individual medalists, are scheduled to compete at the New York Saber World Cup in New York City this weekend.

The 2012 Olympic qualifying tournament will take place at the New York Athletic Club with 191 men and 160 women having registered for the event.

Individual preliminary competition will be held on Friday. The table of 64 and all medal rounds will be conducted on Saturday. A team competition will take place on Sunday. Media interested in attending the event may download a credential application by clicking here.

Team USA’s final roster of athletes includes 36 men and 32 women. Among the United States’ top hopefuls for gold are three Olympic medalists – two-time Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) as well as 2008 Olympic silver medalists Tim Morehouse (New York City, N.Y.) and James Williams (New York City, N.Y.)

The international contingent is a star-studded field that includes at least four past individual World Champions as well as the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Champions and at least 26 World and Olympic medalists.

Past World and Olympic individual men’s medalists scheduled to compete include:

• Man Zhong (CHN), 2008 Olympic Champion
• Nicolas Lopez (FRA), 2008 Olympic silver medalist
• Aldo Montano (ITA), 2004 Olympic Champion and two-time World medalist
• Zsolt Nemcsik (HUN), 2004 Olympic silver medalist and 2006 World silver medalist
• Woo-Young Won (KOR), 2010 World Champion and 2006 World medalist
• Nicolas Limbach (GER), 2009 World Champion and three-time World medalist
• Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS), 2010 World medalist
• Cosmin Hanceanu (ROU), 2010 World bronze medalist
• Rares Dumitrescu (ROU), 2009 World silver medalist
• Luigi Tarantino (ITA), 1998 World Champion and six-time World medalist
• Tamas Desci (HUN), 2009 World bronze medalist
• Eun-Seok Oh (KOR), 2007 World bronze medalist
• Oleg Shturbabin (UKR), 2005 World bronze medalist
• Alexey Yakimenko (RUS), 2005 World bronze medalist

Past World and Olympic individual women’s medalists scheduled to compete include:

• Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), two-time Olympic Champion and two-time World Champion
• Xue Tan (CHN), 2004 Olympic silver medalist and three-time World medalist
• Ilaria Bianco (ITA), four-time World medalist
• Gioia Marzocca (ITA), three-time World medalist
• Olga Kharlan (UKR), two-time World silver medalist
• Sophia Velikaia (RUS), two-time World medalist
• Olena Khomrova (UKR), 2010 World bronze medalist
• Carole Vergne (FRA), 2009 World bronze medalist
• Orsolya Nagy (HUN), 2009 World bronze medalist
• Bogna Jozwiak (POL), 2007 World bronze medalist
• Alessandra Lucchino (ITA), 2005 World bronze medalist
• Aleksandra Socha (RUS), 2003 World bronze medalist

Click here to view the preliminary roster of competitors from all nations.

Please note that the final athlete rosters will be available after pools are drawn on Thursday afternoon.

About Féderation Internationale d'Escrime
The Féderation Internationale d'Escrime (FIE) is the international governing body for the sport of fencing. The FIE is based Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.fie.ch.

About USA Fencing
The United States Fencing Association is the recognized National Governing Body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA is affiliated with the Féderation Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the international federation for fencing. USA Fencing is based at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. For more information, visit www.usfencing.org, www.facebook.com/usfencing or www.twitter.com/usfencing.

About the New York Athletic Club
The New York Athletic Club, founded in 1868, has the most storied athletic tradition of any athletic club in the world.  NYAC athletes have won more than 230 Olympic medals while competing in every modern Olympic Games.  Over more than a century, dozens of NYAC fencers have represented the United States in the Olympic Games, World Championships and Pan American Games and have won hundreds of U.S. National and NCAA titles.