CAIRO, Egypt, April 6, 2021—On the fourth day of the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships, gold medals in junior individual foil were awarded to Russia’s Zakhar Kozlov (men) and USA’s May Tieu (women). Today’s events included 119 men and 95 women from around the world.
In the junior men’s individual foil final, Kozlov beat Korea’s Dangyun Choi, 15-9. Choi defeated Russia’s Stepan Martynovich in the semifinal round, 15-8, while Kozlov won against France’s Constant Roger, 15-8.
“I’m very happy and it’s an unforgettable feeling for me”, said Kozlov. “My strategy was simple, I was fencing for my own pleasure. The quarterfinal was the hardest part of today, when I had to fence my teammate, Egor Barannikov.”
In the junior women’s individual foil final, Tieu defeated Israel’s Nicole Pustilnik, 15-12. Pustilnik beat Canada’s Jessica Zi Jia Guo in the semifinal round, 15-12, and Tieu beat Korea’s Yeongji Joo, 15-5.
“It feels so unreal, it’s been such a long time since I’ve had this kind of competition so it’s very exciting to bring home a gold medal”, said Tieu. “Today was all about taking one bout at a time, and I fenced today with a mask over my nose and mouth for every bout, so it was really about taking my time and pacing myself.”
Final rankings in junior men’s individual foil included Zakhar Kozlov (RUS, gold), Dangyun Choi (KOR, silver), Stepan Martynovich (RUS, bronze), Constant Roger (FRA, bronze), Marcello Olivares (USA), Paul Antoine De Belval (FRA), Egor Barannikov (RUS) and Kenji Bravo (USA).
Final rankings in junior women’s individual foil included May Tieu (USA, gold), Nicole Pustilnik (ISR, silver), Jessica Zi Jia Guo (CAN, bronze), Yeongji Joo (KOR, bronze), Lauren Scruggs (USA), Olga Sopit (UKR), Vitalina Anaschenkova (RUS) and Maia Mei Weintraub (USA).
In all, 18 individual and team fencing events in three weapons are taking place over nine days at the Indoor Halls Complex of the Cairo International Stadium in Nasr City.
Complete official results and full information regarding the Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships may be found on the FIE Web site at www.FIE.org/competitions.
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