Qualification for Tokyo 2020 continued at the weekend at the Kazan Women’s Foil World Cup 2019 where the team qualification concluded.
Ahead of the event Russia, Italy and France had already confirmed their qualification status in the top four. Hungary led the race for the additional European place with Poland in hot pursuit.
Italy won the tournament, beating France in the semi-finals before overcoming the USA to take the gold medal. Russia faced Poland in the quarterfinals and a thrilling match ended with Poland doing what they needed to – progressing with a 42-41 victory.
At the same time Hungary faced Italy in the round of 8 and were soundly beaten 45-13. Now qualification was in the hands of the Polish fencers. They lost to the USA in the semi-finals but a win in the bronze medal match against France would confirm their place at Tokyo 2020. Meanwhile, Hungary faced Russia in the fifth-place play-off. Russia edged that match giving the Hungarian team time to watch the conclusion of Poland versus France. The Poles led 40-37 going into the final leg but France’s Pauline Ranvier crushed Polish hopes with a dominating performance that took the French to the bronze medal.
Russia, Italy and France will be joined by a relieved Hungarian team at the Olympic Games later this year.
In the individual event, Leonie Ebert of Germany continued to lead the race for the two European individual places ahead of Maria Diaz of Spain. A top 16 finish for Ebert in Kazan further cements her position as the leading European in the individual race. Diaz was unable to gain any points in Russia but Poland’s Julia Walczyk and Israeli fencer Nicole Pustilnik were able to close the gap and now trail the Spaniard by just two and three points, respectively.
The final Olympic qualifier takes place at the Anaheim Grand Prix. Ebert looks a strong favourite for qualification but the race for the second European place is still wide open.
