LAVAL, Canada (May 18) – China came away with eight gold medals of a total 14 available to dominate wheelchair fencing’s Laval World Cup stage in Canada.
The Club d’Escrime Montmorency, based in the Montreal suburb, hosted the last World Cup event of the season to count towards Paralympics qualification on April 28-May 1.
As usual, medals were on offer in two categories for each weapon for the individual disciplines, and two more medals were up for grabs in the team competitions.
China was just one short of the four-gold sweep in the foil and epee, with the other victories going to Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Georgia and Russia.
The full list of gold medalists:
- SUN Gang (CHN) - Foil men, category A
- HU Daoliang (CHN) - Foil men, category B
- RONG Jing (CHN) - Foil women, category A
- VIO Beatrice Maria (ITA) - Foil women, category B
- SUN Gang (CHN) – Epee men, category A
- HU Daoliang (CHN) - Epee men, category B
- BIAN Jing (CHN) – Epee women, category A
- BRIESE-BAETKE Simone (GER) – Epee women, category B
- CHEN Yijun (CHN) – Sabre men, category A
- SARRI Alessio (ITA) - Sabre men, category B
- BREUS Yevheniia (UKR) – Sabre women, category A
- KHETSURIANI Irma (GEO) - Sabre women, category A
- Teams: RUSSIA (epee men), CHINA (foil women)
Medal table:
- China (8 Gold, 4 Silver, 6 Bronze medals)
- Italy (2 Gold, 0 Silver, 3 Bronze medals)
- Russia and Ukraine (1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze medals each)
Two qualification events remain for the Paralympics: the European and the Pan-American championships at the end of the month.
Seven of an athlete’s top ten results from the World Cup circuit count towards their Paralympic ranking.
The Laval World Cup was organized by the Club d’Escrime Montmorency and sanctioned by the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport Federation, with FIE and IWFC competition rules in force.
Official links:
IWAS World Cup information
Rio 2016 Qualification Criteria for Wheelchair Fencing