USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – The U.S. Women’s Saber Team placed fourth at the Dakar World Cup in Senegal on Sunday.

The team of two-time Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.); three-time Senior World team medalists Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.) and Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.); and 2013 Junior World Team Champion Sage Palmedo (Portland, Ore.) was seeded second in the competition and earned a bye into the table quarter-finals.

Team USA trailed France, 40-37, after eight bouts, but Zagunis scored eight to give the Americans a 45-44 win.

The score was flipped, however, in the semifinals when Team USA lost to Italy, 45-44, in a rematch of last year’s Senior World Championship bronze medal final.

Fencing for bronze, Team USA lost to Korea, 45-39. The loss snapped a 12-tournament streak of podium finishes by the U.S. Women’s Saber Team that dated back to March of 2012.

Top eight results are as follows:

Dakar Women’s Team Saber World Cup
1. Ukraine
2. Italy
3. Korea
4. USA
5. China
6. Hungary
7. France
8. Poland