skip navigation

Courtney Hurley Places Sixth at Nankin Epee Grand Prix, Defeats World #1

06/13/2011, 7:10am CDT
By No Author

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Twenty-year-old Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) earned a career best finish at a grand prix event on Sunday when she finished sixth at the Nankin Epee Grand Prix in China – Hurley’s top international finish since winning bronze at the 2010 Pan American Championships.

The five-time Senior World Team member entered the table of 64 as the #18 seed after going undefeated in the pools on Saturday and was one of four U.S. athletes to advance to the table of 64.

Hurley won her first two bouts with scores of 15-12 against Young-Mi Kang (KOR) and 2010 Senior World medalist Nathalie Moellhausen (ITA).

In the table of 16, Hurley upset the #1-ranked fencer in the world, Magdalena Piekarska (POL), 15-8, to advance to the quarter-finals where Hurley lost to Bianca Del Carretto (ITA), the #8-ranked epee fencer in the world.

Hurley earned valuable Olympic qualifying points for her finish and is now ranked as the top athlete from the Pan American region in the individual Olympic qualifying rankings.

Beijing Olympian Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas), Courtney’s older sister, earned the second highest finish for Team USA as she placed 36th after a table of 64 loss to Mingfang Yin (CHN), 15-10.

Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn , N.Y.) lost to Francesca Quondamcarlo (ITA), 15-13, and finished 46th.

Susannah Scanlan (Saint Paul, Minn.) also lost a close opening bout to Yana Shemyakina (UKR), the #2-ranked epee fencer in the world, who won their table of 64 round, 15-13, and then went on to take the gold while Scanlan finished 62nd.

Maya Lawrence (Tea Neck, N.J.) placed 64th after she drew the #2 seed in the table of 64 and lost her bout to 2010 Senior World Champion Maureen Nisima (FRA), 15-12.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows, including athletes who placed outside the top 64 on Saturday:

Nankin Epee Grand Prix
1. Yana Shemyakina (UKR)
2. Anna Sivkova (RUS)
3. Bianca Del Carretto (ITA)
3. Emese Szasz
5. Xiaojuan Luo (CHN)
6. Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
7. Sheng Lin (CHN)
8. Ricarda Multerer (GER)

36. Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas)
46. Lindsay Campbell (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
62. Susannah Scanlan (St. Paul, Minn.)
64. Maya Lawrence (Tea Neck, N.J.)
71. Lauren Willock (Astoria, N.Y.)
88. Eleanor Leighton (Mishawaka, Ind.)
99. Francesca Bassa (Houston, Texas)



Tag(s): News  Courtney Hurley  Kelley Hurley