Olympic Epee Qualification By Ranking Complete
The Kazan Epee World Cup at the weekend marked the conclusion of epee qualification for the Olympic Games by ranking.
Women’s Epee
Going into the event Russia and Poland held top four placings whilst Italy was also provisionally qualified as they sat in the European spot and Estonia benefitted from the lack of an African team in the top 16.
Poland won in Kazan, not only securing their place for Tokyo but also putting down a big marker for their Olympic opponents. Russia finished fourth and also confirmed their berth. Italy qualified in the European zonal place and Estonia also confirmed their place at the Olympics by picking up the bonus place vacated by no African team qualifying.
Ana Maria Popescu of Romania had already secured her place for Tokyo before the event and despite Ukraine’s Olena Kryvytska finishing on the same points as France’s Coraline Vitalis, the French European Champion confirmed her place on the tie-breaker countback.
The qualifiers for women’s epee in full are:
- Teams: China, Poland, Russia, Korea, USA, Italy, Hong Kong and Estonia
- Individuals: Popsecu (ROU), Moellhausen (BRA), Vitalis (FRA), Besbes (TUN), Sato (JPN) and Khakimova (UZB)
Men’s Epee
Going into the event France, Italy, Switzerland and Ukraine sat in the top four whilst Hungary held the European place.
Hungary’s hopes were dashed with a loss in the last 16 in Kazan. Italy’s amazing comeback victory over Korea in Kazan saw them confirmed in the top four along with France, Ukraine and Switzerland. Russia’s performance in Kazan meant they also qualified for the Olympics.
In the individual race, Hungary’s Gergely Siklosi booked the top European spot with the Netherland’s Bas Verwijlen taking the second place.
The qualifiers for men’s epee in full are:
- Teams: France, Italy, Ukraine, Switzerland, South Korea, Russia, USA and China
- Individuals: Siklosi (HUN), Yamada (JPN), Verwijlen (NED), Limardo Gascon (VEN), Kurbanov (KAZ) and Elkord (MAR)
European countries who have not qualified any athletes by the team or individual rankings, will be able to send up to one male and one female fencer to the European Olympic qualifier, due to take place in Madrid 24-25 April – the final Olympic qualification event for Europeans.
