(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Friday was a successful day for Team USA as nearly all of the athletes that competed in the Gdarisk Foil Grand Prix in Poland and the London Saber World Cup advanced to the round of 64 that will be held on Saturday.
In the foil grand prix, 2010 Cadet World Champion Lee Kiefer (Lexington, Ky.) automatically advanced as the #16 seed in the tournament.
Margaret Lu (Greenwich, Conn.) defeated all six of her opponents in the pools to advance as to the table of 64 as the 23rd seed. Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) and Ambika Singh (Skillman, N.J.) each won five bouts to qualify as the 27th and 29th seeds, respectively.
Nicole Ross (New York City, N.Y.) won five of her bouts and advanced after a bye in the table of 128.
Beijing Olympic silver medalist Emily Cross (New York City, N.Y.) and Nzingha Prescod (Brooklyn, N.Y.) each won four bouts in the pools. Prescod defeated Anita Blaze (FRA), 15-6, in the round of 128 while Cross defeated Karolina Chlewinska (POL) and will be the 58th seed.
Adrienne Nott (Honeoye Falls, N.Y) also competed, but went 1-5 in the pools and did not advance.
At the women’s saber world cup in London, two-time Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) bypassed the pools as the #1 seed in the tournament.
Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.) will enter the table of 64 as a #31 seed after winning five of six matches in the pools.
Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.) won three of five matches to advance to the table of 256 where she had a bye before defeating Matylda Ostojska (POL), 15-9.
Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.) and Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.) won four of six matches each. Both athletes earned byes in the next round and Wozniak defeated Lucrezia Sinigaglia (ITA), 15-10. Aksamit found herself facing Celina Merza (Wayne, N.J.) who needs to place well in London to qualify for this year’s Junior World Team.
The two had a close battle with Merza taking the win, 15-13.
Aziza Hassan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) also advanced with a 3-6 record in the pools. Hassan edged Mariangela Postiglione (ITA), 15-14 to qualify as the #63 seed where she will face two-time World medalist Olga Kharlan (UKR).
Cadets Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.) and Francesca Russo (Wayne, N.J.) both advanced out of the pools, but neither qualified for competition on Saturday. Palmedo won two of her six pool matches and defeated Chika Aoki (JPN), 15-8, in the table of 256. In the next round, however, she lost to Eva Munz (GER), 15-6.
Russo also went 2-4 in the pools before losing her next match to Volha Kisialiova (BLR), 15-13.
Two other juniors competed, but neither Nicole Glon (State College, Pa.) nor Lian Osier (Battle Ground, Ore.) advanced out of the pools.
Individual competition will conclude on Saturday for both events.
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