Inna Deriglazova crowns Russian women’s foil dominance in Tauberbischofsheim with FIE World Cup gold

The world number one ranked foil fencer edged out Korea’s Hee Sook Jeon in the Final to take the gold medal in the Reinhold-Würth-Cup, and was also part of the Russian team which won gold in the team event beating Italy in the Final.

In the women’s individual event, Deriglazova breezed through the pool rounds and early stages of the knockout rounds, but the pressure was ramped in the latter stages. First she overwhelmed world number seven and fellow Russian, Svetlana Tripapina, 15-4 in the quarter-finals before accounted for world number three, Lee Kiefer of the USA, 15-10 in the semi-finals.

The Final and gold medal match with Jeon, ranked eleven in the world, was an even closer affair as Deriglazova had to call upon all her experience before closing out a narrow 13-12 victory.

Jeon’s path to the Final was equally as tough as she beat world number four, Ysaora Thibus of France, 14-13 in the quarter-finals, ahead of removing the host nation’s hope, Leonie Ebert, 15-12 in the semi-finals.

In the team event, Russia’s women were in fine form and crowned a series of excellent performances with an eventual gold medal. They beat Austria 45-27 at the round of 16 stage, before seeing off Hungary 45-22 in the quarter-finals and then USA 45-37 in the semi-finals.

That brought the Russians face-to-face with Italy in the Final and despite a valiant effort by the Italians it was former who took gold with a 45-36 victory.

To reach the gold medal decider, the Italians had earlier beaten Ukraine 45-23 in the last 16, Japan 45-41 in the quarter-finals and then France 45-34 in the semi-finals.