Women’s Team Foil World Championships Results

The Polish Women’s Foil team struck gold with a victory over Russia in the 2003 Fencing World Championships being held in Havana, Cuba. Poland defeated Russia 45-36 in the Team Women’s Foil event. Polish foilist Sylwia Gruchala earned the silver medal in the individual event earlier in the week.

The Polish Women’s Foil team struck gold with a victory over Russia in the 2003 Fencing World Championships being held in Havana, Cuba. Poland defeated Russia 45-36 in the Team Women’s Foil event. Polish foilist Sylwia Gruchala earned the silver medal in the individual event earlier in the week.

Joining Gruchala on the podium were fellow team members Magdalena Mroczkiewicz, Anna Rybicka and Malgozhata Wojtkowiak. This was Poland’s first Gold Medal in the Women’s Foil event. Earlier in the week, silver medalist Gruchala predicted a gold medal, saying “I will wait for thursday, as we will strike gold medals in team.”

The Polish team faced down a Russian team comprised of Swietlana Bojko and 2002 silver medalist Ekaterina Youcheva. The match started with Gruchala defeating Nikiszina 5:4, then Mroczkiewicz took the next bout 5-0 to make the score 10-4 for Poland. After 4 matches, the score was Poland: 20, Russia: 6! At that point in the match, Youcheva came off the bench for Russia and earned 7 points against Gruchala’s 2 to bring the score up to 22-13. Mroczkiewicz faced Bojko to bring the score to 27:15.

When Youcheva stepped up for the next match, she seemed about to turn it around for Russia, going on a 12-1 run to bring the score up to 28-27! The Polish team seemed to be on teh ropes, but then Mroczkiewicz and Gruchala stepped up to close out the match for Poland as Gruchala outlasted Bojko 7-6 in the last match. When asked about the victory, the Polish team stated that they “Regret only, that Poland will not compete during next year’s olimpic games” due to the exclusion of Women’s Team Foil from the list of events. Poland will look Sylwia Gruchala to take the medal stand in Athens for the individual women’s foil event as the other team members work this year to qualify for the individual event.