Russia Wins 2 Golds in Team Competition

Larisa Korebeynikova (RUS) found herself facing off against Valentina Vezzali (ITA) down 39-35 in the final bout of the Women’s Team Foil World Championships.  Instead of crumbling, Korebeynikova rose to the occassion and defeated the reigning world champion 10-5 in the bout to give Russia the World Championship 45-44 over Italy.

After Korebeynikova was awarded the final touch on a parry-riposte, she was mobbed by her teammates.  Just minutes before Elisa Di Francisca (ITA) seemed to have dashed Russia’s hopes with a 5-0 schooling of Aida Shanaeva (RUS) the put Italy ahead by 4.  Korebeynikova scored the first touch of the bout with Vezzali and seemed to gain confidence off of it.  She slowly climbed back into the match and tied the match at 44-44 with 17 seconds left.  She scored the final point with just 9 seconds left in regulation.

This is the first time that Russia has defeated Italy during the Olympic qualifying period.  Italy prevailed in previous matches in Shanghai and at the 2011 European Championships.  Both teams are well ahead of the pack for Olympic qualification, so this match may very well repeat itself in 2012.

In Men’s Sabre, the Russian team asserted its dominance over Belorus with a 45-29 score in the gold medal bout.  Russia came out with a 5-2 start by Alexey Yakimenko (RUS) over Dmitri Lapkes (BLR) and the Russians never surrendered the lead.  The match was, for all intensive purposes, over in the 6th bout when Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) went 5-2 on Aliaksandr Buikevich (BLR), making the score 30-21.  The Belorussian team was unable to spark a comeback, however, and had to settle for silver.

Earlier in the semi-finals, the Belorussian team provided a much more dramatic match as they were down 30-22 to the #1 ranked Italian team.  In the 7th and 8th bouts, Belorus went18-8 run, including a 10-3 bout by Valery Pryiemka (BLR) over Luigi Tarantino (ITA) to pull ahead 40-38.  Going into the final bout Buikevich scored the first two points on Aldo Montano (ITA) to force the Italian into taking bigger risks.  Montano worked back into the bout and tied the score at 43-all but Buikevich scored the final 2 points, knocking off Italy with a 45-43 victory.

The victory by Russia puts them in 1st place in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings for team.  Italy remains at #2 and Belorus jumps up into the top-4.

Team USA Maintains Olympic Qualifications

The United States placed 8th in the Men’s Sabre competition, following a top-16 victory over France before losing 45-42 to Italy.  Tarantino proved himself the weak link in that bout as well, losing bouts 9-5 to Daryl Homer and 10-5 to James Williams.

In placement rounds, the US lost to Romania 45-41 and to the Ukraine 45-31 to place 8th.

The United States still holds a 21 point lead over Canada for the American Regional qualification slot for the Olympics.

In Women’s Team Foil, the US team defeated #11 Ukraine 45-28 to make the top-8.  They then lost their bout to #3 Korea 44-34.  In placement rounds the US lost to France 45-39 and then defeated Canada 45-31 to take 7th place.

The US Women’s Foil remains in 4th place in the Adjusted Olympic Rankings, just 2 points ahead of Poland.  A top-4 standing means that the US is an automatic qualifier and then a regional slot for the Americas would be open for Canada.  The US remains 29 points ahead of Canada in the regional rankings, so the US team’s Olympic prospects look good.

Final Results: Womens Team Foil

Rank     Pts     Name
1    128    RUSSIA
2    104    ITALY
3    80    KOREA
4    72    POLAND
5    64    HUNGARY
6    60    FRANCE
7    56    USA
8    52    CANADA

Final Results: Men’s Team Sabre