Fencers Irina Embrich and Julia Beljajeva through to world championships main draw
Estonian fencers Irina Embrich and Julia Beljajeva have qualified for the women's epee main draw at the World Fencing Championships that began Tuesday in Tbilisi, where they will join Katrina Lehis and Nelli Differt.
Lehis and Differt reached the main draw,the round of 64, directly, thanks to their world rankings, while Embrich and Beljajeva had to earn their spots via qualification.
Embrich placed 17th in qualification, and Beljajeva 22nd, meaning both need to win one more match to reach the round of 64. Embrich is to face Israeli fencer Alexandra Kravets, and Beljajeva will face South Korean Hyangeun Kim.
Beljajeva and Embrich each earned five wins in their pools, though Beljajeva lost to Georgian Tamila Muridova and Embrich fell to Indian fencer Prachi Lohani-
Embrich then defeated Israeli fencer Alexandra Kravets 15:6 while Beljajeva defeated South Korean fencer Hyangeun Kim 15:10.
At the main event starting today, Wednesday, Lehis will face Luxembourg fencer Anna Zens in the opening round, Differt is to face Hungarian Blanka Virag Nagy, Embrich will compete against Bianca Benea (Romania), and Beljaeva will face off againstPauline Brunner of Switzerland. If they go through, Lehis and Beljaeva will face each other in round two.
The women's epee main draw begins on Wednesday, the men's qualification tournament takes place on Saturday followed by the main draw on Sunday, while the women's team competition will be held on Friday and Saturday, and the men's team event on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lehis, Embrich and Beljajeva were part of the women's 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal-winning foursome, while Differt was just outside the medals at last summer's Paris games.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
