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Kiefer, Cross and Willette Finish in Top 32 at Shanghai Foil World Cup

05/08/2011, 1:11am CDT
By Nicole Jomantas

http://assets.teamusa.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/42624/WIF-Prescod__USA_-Shanghai_2011-0026.JPG

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Three members of Team USA advanced to the table of 32 at the Shanghai Foil World Cup on Saturday.

As the only member of the trio who earned an exemption into the table of 64 due to her 16th seed in the tournament, 16-year-old Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) returned to international competition for the first time since winning three silver medals at the Cadet and Junior World Championships last month. Kiefer won her opening bout against Melanie Grube (GER), 15-9, but lost in the table of 32 to Bingbing Chen (CHN), 15-12, to place 22nd overall.

Emily Cross (New York City, N.Y.) earned her first top-32 finish in individual competition since the Beijing Olympic Games where Cross won a silver medal before taking more than two years off from international competition. Coming off an undefeated six-bout run in the pools on Friday, Cross defeated 2009 Junior World Champion Ekaterina Kazhikina (RUS), 15-10, to advance to the table of 32 where she lost to three-time World medalist Aida Mohamed (HUN), 15-7. Mohamed went on to win the silver medal and Cross placed 23rd.

Four-time Senior World Team member Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) defeated Anne Sauer (GER), 15-8, in the first bout, but lost to two-time Junior World Champion Inna Deriglazova (RUS), 15-3 to finish 30th.


Nzingha Prescod (left). Photo Credit: Serge Timacheff / www.fencingphotos.com

Reigning Junior World Champion Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) also competed in the table of 64, but placed 44th after a 15-6 loss to 2004 Junior World medalist Gaelle Gebet (FRA).

Competition will conclude on Sunday with the team event in which Kiefer, Willette and Prescod will compete with Ambika Singh (Skillman, N.J.)

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

 Shanghai Foil Individual World Cup
1. Hyun-Hee Nam (KOR)
2. Aida Mohamed (HUN)
3. Elisa Di Francisca (ITA)
3. Astrid Guyart (FRA)
5. Valentina Vezzali (ITA)
6. Aida Shanaeva (RUS)
7. Inna Deriglazova (RUS)
8. Kanae Ikehata (JPN)

22. Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.)
23. Emily Cross (New York City, N.Y.)
30. Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.)
44. Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
84. Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.)
86. Luona Wang (Birmingham, Ala.)
88. Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.)
97. Ambika Singh (Skillman, N.J.)
114. Adrienne Nott (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.)
117. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, Calif.)
126. Sharon Gao (Plainsboro, N.J.)
137. Eve Levin (New York City, N.Y.)



Tag(s): News  Lee Kiefer