Leading women’s foil fencers head to Tauberbischofsheim for FIE World Cup competition

A high-class field is to set to do battle over the course of this weekend (28 to 30 April) with 14 of the world’s current top ranked women foil fencers confirmed as competing, including eight of the current top 10.

They include the world number one, Lee Kiefer, who will be looking to add to her victory in the Absolute Fencing Gear FIE Grand Prix at Long Beach, California, USA, last month.

However Kiefer can expect stiff competition with all of the top five women’s foil fencers also in attendance in Tauberbischofsheim. Italy’s Arianna Errigo (world number two), Russia’s Inna Deriglazova (three), France’s Ysaor Thibus (four) and USA’s Nicole Ross (five) are all competing.

Tunisia’s Ines Boubakri (ranked seven) France’s Astrid Guyart (nine) and Canada’s Eleanor Harvey (ten) provide further additions from the top ten to add to an already -stellar field of over 150 women foil fencers who are set to be challenging for honours.

The weekend’s action in Tauberbischofsheim will see two competitions in the women’s foil, with the individual competition taking place across two days of 28 and 29 April, with the team competition – which promises to be another equally fascinating contest – being staged on 30 April.

The action in Germany comes ahead of a busy month of May which gets under way next weekend (5 to 7 May) with further FIE World Cup action. There are two events in prospect with the men’s individual and team foil in St Petersbourg, Russia, and also the women’s individual and team epee in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

They are followed by the next Grand Prix events in the FIE series, with the men’s and women’s foil in Shanghai, China on 19 May, before the men’s and women’s epee being staged in Bogota, Colombia, on 26 May.