Olympic champion Park Sang-young and defending champion Sarra Besbes will be eyeing the men’s and women’s titles respectively as stage is set for the marathon finals day of the prestigious Qatar Fencing Grand Prix in Doha today.
The first two days at state-of-the-art Aspire Dome witnessed qualifying rounds of men’s and women’s epee events as a total of 350 fencers from 45 countries including several world and Olympic champions are taking part in the three-day event.
The action on the final day will begin with the last-64 stages in both the men’s and women’s categories. The finals of both the categories will be played from 5pm to 7pm.
South Korea’s Sang-young, who won gold medal in Rio Olympics last year, will be seen in action in the last-64 stage as he will square off with Belgian Xavier Ferot Francois in his first match.
Sang-young was exempted from qualifying round along with 17 other top ranked fencers.
The South Korean star, however, is expected to face tough resistance in his title-hunt from Italian duo of former world champion Paolo Pizzo and Enrico Garozzo, a bronze medalist at world championships, who will also begin his campaign in last 64-stage.
Besbes, 28, a Tunisian star who won the women’s epee title last year in Doha, will meet Kristina Kussk of Estonia in her first clash.
Estonia’s Julia Beljajeva, a 2013 world champion and 2017 team world championship gold medallist, and Italy’s Mara Navarria can be a tough nut to crack for Besbes in her title-defense.
Yesterday at the Qatar Fencing Grand Prix, the women’s qualifying rounds for last-64 stage were competed with Italian, South Korean and Chinese fencers dominating their opponents.
As many as 11 fencers from Italy, eight from South Korea and six from China qualified for the last-64 stage. A total of four Qatari female fencers also showcased their skills in yesterday’s qualifying stage.
The quartet includes Fatima Hamad, Thkrayat Al Abdulla, Wahda Al Abdulla and Haroun Hassan Ghada.
All the four Qatari fencers displayed a gutsy performance and earned coveted points against their higher-ranked opponents, which will give them confidence as they bid to improve their world rankings.
The Qatar GP was started with preliminary round of men’s competition on Friday. A total of eight Qatari fencers also participated in the qualifying stage with Abdullah Sayyari and Ali Al Sulaiti displaying impressive performances.
Both notched up a win against top fencers during their qualifying campaign before bowing out in the first stage.
Mohammed Ali Mirzaei, Yousef Al Bader, Khalid Al Mulla, Abdulrahman Al Sowaidi, Soud Al Malki and Mehdi Feriani were the other Qatari fencers who gained valuable experience on the inaugural day.
The Qatar Fencing Grand Prix is being held since 2004 and is regarded as one of the toughest events in International Fencing Federation calendar.
