USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Fencing in her second Junior World Cup of the season, three-time Junior World team medalist Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.) won her second medal of the season on Saturday with a bronze at the Lyon Foil Junior World Cup in France.

Dubrovich led a successful U.S. team that also included top-eight finishes from Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Dubrovich’s Columbia teammate Sara Taffel (New York City, N.Y.)

Seeded third out of the pools, Dubrovich seemed unbeatable in the early direct elimination rounds as she held her first three opponents to single digit scores with victories over Minami Ogata (JPN), 15-7; Madina Tchoukounte (FRA), 15-6; and Maud Rouas (FRA), 15-4.

In the quarter-finals, Dubrovich fenced 2013 Junior World bronze medalist Francesca Palumbo – the Italian who defeated Dubrovich in the semifinals of the 2012 Junior Worlds.

Their last bout at the Bratislava Junior World Cup in November came down to the final touch and Dubrovich would take this win as well by a score of 12-11.

Dubrovich lost her semifinal bout to eventual gold medalist Pauline Ranvier (FRA), 15-9, but earned the points needed to secure a position on her second Junior World Team with just two qualification events remaining.

Competing for the second time on the Junior World Cup circuit, cadet fencer Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.) advanced to her first quarter-final at the junior international level.

Blow opened with a 15-8 win over Ren Sanada (FRA) in the table of 64 and won her next bout against Matilde Biagiotti (ITA), 15-13.

Blow defeated Ayesha Fihosy (GBR), 15-12, in the table of 16, but placed seventh after a 15-4 loss to Jeromine Mpah-Njanga (FRA) in the quarters.

Taffel, who placed seventh in Bratislava, returned to the Junior World Cup circuit in Lyon with an eighth place result.

Taffel controlled her table of 64 bout against Julie Marey (FRA) for a 15-3 win and went on to upset top seed Michala Cellerova (SVK), 15-13, in the table of 32.

After a 15-10 win against Sophia Werner (GER), Taffel lost in the quarter-finals to Erica Cipressa (ITA).

Click here to view complete results.

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

Lyon Foil Junior World Cup
1. Pauline Ranvier (FRA)
2. Erica Cipressa (ITA)
3. Jackie Dubrovich (Riverdale, N.J.)
3. Jeromine Mpah-Njanga (FRA)
5. Camilla Mancini (ITA)
6. Francesca Palubo (ITA)
7. Iman Blow (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
8. Sara Taffel (New York City, N.Y.)

21. MW McElwee (San Francisco, Calif.)
38. Anastasiya Muravyeva (Fair Lawn, N.J.)
40. Liana Henderson-Semel (Carmel, N.J.)
48. Stefani Deschner (Mechanicsville, Va.)
60. Michelle Lee (San Francisco, Calif.)
66. Stefani Kahookele (San Francisco, Calif.)
71. Kaila Budofsky (New York City, N.Y.)
72. Sarah Pak (Upper Saddle River, N.J.)
77. MacKenzie Lawrence (Leawood, Kans.)