(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) placed ninth in the first 2012 Olympic qualifying event at the Bologna Saber World Cup on Saturday in Italy.
As the top-ranked women’s saber fencer in the world, Zagunis was exempt from the preliminary rounds of competition on Friday and won her opening bout against 2010 Junior World silver medalist Anna Varhelyi (HUN), 15-7.
In the table of 32, Zagunis won her bout against Veronika Danilova (RUS), 15-9. With one win needed to qualify for the quarter-finals, Zagunis lost her next bout to Ji-Yeon Kim (KOR), 15-10, and finished in ninth place.
The #13 seed in the tournament, Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.) also was exempt from preliminary competition. Muhammad won her first bout against Viktoriya Kovaleva (RUS), 15-10, but lost in the table of 32 to Irene Di Transo (ITA), 15-11, and placed 17th overall.
Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.) and Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.) also competed in the table of 64, but both lost their first bouts of the day. Wozniak fell to Bianca Pascu (ROU) to place 36th while Aksamit lost to Lenore Perrus (FRA), 15-12, and finished 52nd.
Zagunis, Muhammad, Wozniak and Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.) will compete in the team event on Sunday.
Top-eight and U.S. results are as follows, including athletes who placed outside the top 64 during competition on Friday:
Bologna Saber Individual World Cup
1. Ekaterina Diatchenko (RUS)
2. Aleksandra Socha (POL)
3. Azza Besbes (TUN)
3. Olga Kharlan (UKR)
5. Sophia Velikaia (RUS)
6. Irene Vecchi (ITA)
7. Ji-Yeon Kim (KOR)
8. Dina Galiakbarova (RUS)
9. Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
17. Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
36. Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)
52. Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.)
66. Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)
96. Celina Merza (Wayne, N.J.)
101. Aziza Hassan (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
117. Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.)
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