The Ukrainian national anthem played in Moscow.
Olga Kharlan (UKR) kept a lock on her #1 world ranking by defeating Yana Egorian (RUS) 15-10 in the final match. Mariel Zagunis (USA) made the top-8 and lost to Egorian 15-13 in the quarter-finals, placing 5th.
Video: Kharlan vs. Egorian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JFsBwMIjNU
The Russian women proved to be individually formidable, placing 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 13th. The USA was the only other country to place two fencers in the top-10 as Dagmara Wozniak finished in 9th place.
Men’s Saber:
In Men’s Saber, Romania’s Tiberiu Dolniceanu bested 2012 Gold Medalist Aron Szilagyi (HUN) 15-14 in the semi-finals before defeating Matyas Szabo (GER) 15-11 to claim the Grand Prix title.
The top US finish came from Eli Dershwitz, who finished 13th. Dershwitz defeated Samele (ITA) 15-13 in the 64 and Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) 15-14 before losing out to Bongil Gu (KOR) 15-11 in the top-16. Daryl Homer (USA) was knocked out in the round of 64 by Riccardo Nuccio (ITA), placing 33rd.
Video: Szabo vs. Dolniceanu:
The next events are the 2015 European Fencing Championships which begin June 6th. After the European and Asian championships conclude, we’ll be posting our first round of Olympic Qualification point standings for all 6 weapons.