Liimbach and Kharlan take sabre gold at South Korea Fencing Grand Prix

The senior international fencing season continued with a total number of 265 athletes – made up of 142 men and 123 female fencers, from 41 countries participating in this latest round of sabre competition.

In the men’s sabre, Germany’s Nicolas Liimbach beat France’s Nicolas Rousset in the final by a 15-8 scoreline.

Russia’s Kamil Ibragimov and the USA’s Daryl Homer shared the third position on the podium; Ibragimov losing out in the semi-final against Rousset 9-15 whilst Homer defeated by Liimbach 11-15 in the other last four match.

Two other Russians and two Korean fencers formed the remainder of the top 10 rankings in Seoul. Russia’s Alexey Yakimenko and Veniamin Reshetnikov took fifth and eighth place respectively, whilst Korea’s Junghwan Kim and Bongil Gu finished sixth and ninth.

Making up the top 10 were Germany’s Max Hartung in seventh and Italy’s Aldo Montano in 10th.

In the women’s sabre, the Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan followed up her success at the New York Fencing Grand Prix by winning the gold.

Her success came after beating the USA’s Ibtihaj Muhammad by a 15-9 scoreline in the final.

The bronze medal and third places went to the two losing semi-finalists, Russia’s Sofiya Velikaya and the USA’s Mariel Zagunis; Velikaya losing her semi-final against Kharlan 15-11, whilst Zagunis defeated by her compatriot Muhammad in a closely-fought last four encounter 15-14.

The top 10 women’s rankings from Seoul saw Italy’s Rossella Gregorio finish fifth, Hungary’s Anna Marton take sixth and France’s Cecilia Berder occupy seventh.

To complete the line-up, Tunisia’s Azza Besbes was eighth, Russia’s Ekaterina Dyachenko finished ninth with Korea’s Raijin Lee tenth.

The next sabre Grand Prix will take place on 30 May in Moscow.