Nam defeats Guyart to win NYC World Cup

Prescod and Kiefer lead the US with top-16 performances.

Hyun Hee Nam defeated two French fencers in the semi-final and final matches of the 2010 Women’s Foil World Cup in Brooklyn, NY today to win the tournament.  The diminutive Nam combined a series of long, fast attacks with brilliant and often acrobatic counter-attacks to defeat her more traditional opponents.

Earlier in the day Nam had used her small size and hard-to-hit target to defeat US fencer Lee Kiefer 15-8 in the round of 16.  In the round of 32, Kiefer – usually the smaller fencer on strip – had used similar tactics to defeat her taller Russian opponent, Viktoria Nikichina.

Nzingha Prescod (USA) also fought her way to the round of 16 with a victory over Hye Sun Lee (KOR) before falling to the higher ranked Katja Waechter (GER).  “I’m proud of my result,” said Prescod, “but I wanted to get farther.”  On being in New York for the event, Prescod said that it was good because “a lot of my family were able to come and see me fence.”

US National Women’s Foil coach Michael Pederson said that the young foil squad is on track, “This is a good finish for Nzingha and Lee, this has actually been building all season for both of them.”

“They are a young group, a young team, and throughout the course of the season, there have been a few ups and downs, and this is a nice end to the season. It puts them in a good spot psychologically. It shows them they have the capacity to compete at the highest level internationally.”

Pederson said that the focus is on holding a good team position and building off of that in Paris and on to the next season:  “Right now we’re sixth in the world and that’s a really good slot for us to be in. It sets us up for World Championships in Paris, really well with a good draw in the first round. Overall, I’m really happy with the entire group.”

Pederson pointed out that all of the bouts, including Nicole Ross’ 15-14 loss to Sandra Bingenheimer (GER) show that the US fencers, though young, have the tools to compete with the top fencers on the world stage.

Final Results – 2010 New York World Cup – Women’s Foil From top 32

Top 16