USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – By the end of competition at the Beijing Saber Grand Prix on Sunday, two members of the U.S. Women’s Saber Team finished the World Cup season with top-eight results and Team USA became the only nation to have three athletes ranked in the top eight in the world.

Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill.), a 2013 Senior World team medalist, and London Olympian Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.) finished fifth and seventh, respectively.

Due to their high seeds at the start of the event, both athletes earned byes into the table of 32.

Stone defeated Xinting Yu (CHN), 15-11, and top-ranked junior fencer Paola Pliego (MEX), 15-6, to advance to the quarter-finals.

Wozniak won her opening bout over Maria Belen Perez Maurice (ARG), 15-10, and defeated Seona Hwang (KOR), 15-11, in the table of 16.

In the quarter-finals, Stone lost to Shen Chen (CHN), 15-7, and Wozniak dropped her bout to 2013 Senior World Champion Olga Kharlan (UKR), 15-8.

The result was the fourth top-eight finish this season for Stone who won bronze medals in two of those appearances. Wozniak has placed in the top eight five times, including a bronze medal win in Gent in February.

Stone and Wozniak will begin the Pan American Championships next week as the No. 7 and No. 8 women’s saber fencers in the world while two-time Olympic Champion Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) remains No. 2 in the world after a 15-14 loss to Jiyeon Seo (KOR).

Three-time Senior World medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.) defeated a pair of Vietnamese opponents in her first two bouts. Muhammad won her table of 64 bout over Thi Thanh Loan and defeated Thi Le Dung Nguyen, 15-9, in the 32. Muhammad narrowly missed the quarter-finals after a 15-13 loss to Rajin Lee (KOR) in the table of 16.

Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.), a 2009 Senior World Team member, won her first two bouts over Patricia Contreras (VEN), 15-5, and Chika Aoki (JPN), 15-10. In the table of 16, she lost to Kharlan, 15-7.

Two-time Senior World medalist Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.) lost to Aoki, 15-5, in the table of 64.

Click here to view complete results.

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

Beijing Saber Grand Prix
1. Olga Kharlan (UKR)
2. Chen Shen (CHN)
3. Jiyeon Kim (KOR)
3. Charlotte Lembach (FRA)
5. Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill.)
6. Rajin Lee (KOR)
7. Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.)
8. Jiyeon Seo (KOR)

10. Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.)
13. Monica Aksamit (Matawan, N.J.)
17. Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.)
33. Daria Schneider (New York City, N.Y.)