The opening round of the women’s foil at the International Fencing Federation (FIE) Fencing Grand Prix of Qatar took place today, whittling the field down to 64 competitors
Joining 32 fencers who were given automatic qualification to the last 64, was another 32 who came through the opening day of competition.
The top seed from the opening day was Kristina Petrova of Ukraine who defeated France’s Ilona Henaff 15-9 to make the next round.
Second seed from the preliminary round, May Tieu of the United States, also progressed with a 15-11 victory over Elisabetta Bianchin of Italy, while third seed Eva Lacheray of France progressed courtesy of a 15-11 win over South Korea’s Sena Hong.
Fourth seeded American Lauren Scruggs was the biggest name to be eliminated, following a 15-7 defeat to Leandra Behr.
Behr previously came through an all-German affair with Zsofia Posgay earlier in the day, winning 15-10.
Fifth seed American Zander Rhodes is through after a comfortable 15-5 win over Argentina’s Flavia Johana Mormandi, but Israeli sixth seed Nicole Pustilnik was eliminated by Poland’s Martyna Jelinska.
Japan’s seventh seed Sumire Tsuji expectedly made it through after a 15-6 win over Egypt’s Noha Hany, and Russian eighth seed Alexandra Sunduchkova progresses too after defeating Lim Seung-min of South Korea 15-11.
Russia’s Inna Deriglazova starts her campaign tomorrow in the competition as the number one seed.