Mariel Zagunis wins the Women’s Sabre at The Pan American Zonal Championships
The two-time Olympic Champion and World Number One Sabre fencer, Mariel Zagunis, got another incredible victory at The Pan American Zonal Championships (PAZC) that were conducted at Reno-Sparks Convention Centre in Nevada.
The PAZC started on June 3 and the weapon control tests were taken on the first day of the championships. On second day, Men’s Epee Individual event and Women’s Sabre Individual competitions were conducted. A total of 34 fencers from twelve nations participated
in the Women’s Sabre discipline. Zagunis entered the competition as a number one seeded athlete. She fought in seven bouts of pool one, where she remained undefeated in all the bouts.
The Olympic Champion was given an automatic bye to the table of 32 and she started her direct elimination round with the table of 16. Zagunis took her first bout in direct elimination round against the Mexican fencer, Paola Pliego, with fantastic 11 points’
lead of 15-4 score-line and stepped forward to the quarter-finals round. The Venezuelan, Alejandra Benitez, was Zagunis’ next target, who was dropped with a score of 15-8 touches. In semi-final round, Zagunis found herself against another American, Daria Schneider,
and defeated her with five-point lead in the competition.
Canadian Sandra Sassine was the final target of the Olympic Champion. It was not so difficult for the US Champion to defeat Sandra. Zagunis eliminated her in the final bout with an amazing 11 points’ lead in the competition. The incredible gold medal was
taken by the two-time Olympic Champion in the Women’s Sabre competition of Pan American Zonal Championships.
Sandra was ranked second in the competition and was honoured with a silver medal. The bronze medals were taken by Argentina’s Maria Perez and United State’s Daria Schneider with third and fourth, respective places.
The Pan American Zonal competition is valid for Olympic Qualification points and Zagunis is leading at the top. The following are the top ten fencers the Women’s Sabre Discipline.
1. Mariel Zagunis from United States with a gold medal
2. Sandra Sassine from Canada with a silver medal
3. Maria Perez Maurice from Argentina with a bronze medal
4. Daria Schneider from United States with a bronze medal
5. Eileen Grench from Panama
6. Alejandra Benitez from Venezuela
7. Angelica Larios from Mexico
8. Fatima Tobar from El Salvador
9. Ibtihaj Muhammad from United States
10. Rossy Felix Lara from Dominica
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