USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Fencing in her first tournament since the Senior World Championships in August, Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) placed fifth at the World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia on Friday.

Zagunis, who won bronze in the team event at the Senior Worlds and placed fifth as an individual, entered the World Combat Games as the tournament’s top seed and dominated her opening bout against Maria Perez Belen Maurice (ARG) for a 15-5 win.

In the quarter-finals, Zagunis fenced Rajin Lee (KOR) – a London Olympian whom Zagunis has only fenced once in individual competition.

Zagunis controlled the bout early, but Lee came back to take the victory, 15-14, and went on to take silver behind her teammate Jiyeon Kim (KOR).  

In the table of 16, Lee defeated Team USA’s Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.) by a score of 15-13.

The men’s epee event also was contested on Friday; however, Team USA did not have an entrant and two-time Senior World Champion Nikolai Novosjolov (EST) followed his title from August with a second gold medal.

Competition at the second edition of the World Combat Games concludes on Saturday when 2013 Senior World Champion Miles Chamley-Watson (New York City, N.Y.) and 2013 Senior World team silver medalist Race Imboden (Brooklyn, N.Y.) represent Team USA in the men’s foil event.

Visit www.worldcombatgames.com for complete results.

Top eight and U.S. results are as follows:

World Combat Games Men’s Epee
1. Nikolai Novosjolov (EST)
2. Gabor Boczko (HUN)
3. Ulrich Robeiri (FRA)
4. Fabian Raphael Kauter (SUI)
5. Ivan Trevejo Perez (FRA)
6. Anton Avdeev (RUS)
7. Pavel Sukhov (RUS)
8. Khaled Buhdeima (LBA)

World Combat Games Women’s Saber
1. Jiyeon Kim (KOR)
2. Rajin Lee (KOR)
3. Ekaterina Dyachenko (RUS)
4. Vassiliki Vougiouka (GRE)
5. Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
6. Aleksandra Socha (POL)
7. Dina Galiakbarova (RUS)
8. Charlotte Lembach (FRA)

11. Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)