Sophia Velikaia conquers gold medal in 2011 New York World Cup in Women’s Sabre
Sophia Velikaia from Russia won the gold medal in 2011 New York World Cup in Women's Sabre that concluded on June 26. Sophia captured the top spot on the podium by defeating Mariel Zagunis from United States in the play-off round.
The two-time senior gold medallist, Sophia, started her bout from the table of 64 as the number second seed. Previously, she was given an automatic bye to the table of 132, as she was undefeated during all the bouts of pool matches.
The first match of direct elimination round took place between Sophia and United State’s Kamali Thompson. Sophia left an amazing impression in her first bout of direct elimination round as she defeated Thompson with an easy 15-4 score-line.
Advancing to the table of 32, Sophia defeated Leonore Perrus with a five-point lead of 15-10 touches. After dropping, the Polish, Katarzyna Kedziora, Sophia entered into the quarter-final bout.
The next three bouts were more challenging for Sophia as she was going to face world’s top sabre fencers in next rounds. Ukrainian Olena Khomrova was her opponent in the quarter-final round, which was dropped by her with 15-9 touches.
In the semi-final, Sophia faced two-time World Medallist, Olga Kharlan of Ukraine, who qualified for semi-final after defeating United States' Ibtihaj Muhammad in quarter-final. A strong competition was seen between Olga and Sophie as they were tied at 14-14
score with nine-minute bouts each. The referee gave an additional minute that proved lucky for Sophia, as she was successful in scoring the decider hit.
After dropping Kharlan, Sophia’s final challenge was the two-time Olympic Champion, Mariel Zagunis of United States. The great courage of Sophia gave her an amazing 15-6 victory against the Olympic Champion. Sophie not only captured the Women’s Sabre event
by defeating Zagunis, but also gained momentum for 2011 Catania World Championships.
The Championships are going to be held in Italy from October 9 to October 16. Sophia enjoyed the first place in the competition’s ranking with gold medal. Zagunis was placed second and was honoured with a silver medal. Ukrainian Olga Kharlan was awarded
a bronze medal on the last day of New York World Cup of Women's Sabre.
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