USA Fencing

(Kazan, Russia) – The U.S. Women’s Saber Team will fence in a gold medal final at the Senior World Championships for the first time in eight years on Monday night.

The team of Mariel Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), Dagmara Wozniak (Avenel, N.J.), Eliza Stone (Chicago, Ill.) and Ibtihaj Muhammad (Maplewood, N.J.) began the day with a 45-22 win over Kazakhstan in the table of 16 and a 45-43 victory against China in the quarter-finals.

In the semifinals, Wozniak, a 2012 Olympian, anchored the American team in its match against a Ukraine – the reigning Senior World Champion team which was led by Olga Kharlan who is fresh off her second straight individual title which she won on Friday.

Wozniak clinched the win for the Americans with a single light on the final touch for a 45-44 win.

At 7:15 p.m. local time (11:15 a.m. Eastern), the Americans will take on France for gold after the French upset Russia in the quarter-finals and edged Italy in the other semi.

This marks the first time the U.S. Women’s Saber Team has competed in the gold medal final of a Senior Worlds since 2006 and a win would mean the team’s first Senior World title since 2005 and third in the sport’s history.

The gold medal final will be shown live on both and www.youtube.com/fievideo.

The television broadcast of the men’s and women’s team saber bronze and gold medal finals will air on Universal Sports Network from 4-6 p.m. Eastern on Monday with an encore presentation at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.

For complete results, visit www.fencingworldwide.com.

For more information, contact N.Jomantas@usfencing.org.