Sada Jacobson and Rebecca Ward are seeded #1 and #2 entering the Women’s Sabre competition on Saturday, August 9th. Fellow US teammate Mariel Zagunis is seeded 6th. Jacobson’s draw could lead to a rematch of her 2004 semi final bout with hometown favorite Xue Tan (CHN).
Tan won the silver medal in 2004, losing to Mariel Zagunis in the gold medal bout. Zagunis will look to recapture 2004 glory with another run through the DE table. Zagunis’ draw features former world champion Elena Nechaeva of Russia and that could prove to be a difficult match.
On the opposite side of the bracket from Jacobson, world #2 Rebecca Ward will have to fence through two members of the French team as she likely meets Anne-Lise Touya in the round of 16 and, provided she wins, could face Leonore Perrus.
Potential sleepers: Italy’s Gioia Marzocca and Poland’s Aleksandra Socha have each won Grand Prix events and could prove to be spoilers. For either of them to move forward, they would have to match up against Sada Jacobson, who looks to be peaking at the right time for the Beijing Games.
The full bracket can be found on the official Olympics site: Women’s Sabre Individual
