Fencing Championships: Novosjolov, Beljajeva Move to Finals in Double Thrust for Estonia
Estonian fencers have moved to Thursday evening's finals in both the men's and women's individual epee tournaments at the 2013 Fencing World Championship in Budapest.
In the men's semifinal, sixth-seeded Nikolai Novosjolov defeated Russia's 26th-seeded Pavel Suhhov, to whom the Estonian lost first place at last year's European Championship. The final score was 15:14.
Just a short while later in the women's semifinal, the screaming Julia Beljajeva surpassed expectations and overcame Hungarian Emese Szasz in a close fight, 14:13, despite the latter having the home-crowd advantage.
Novosjolov will next face off with London Olympics gold medalist Ruben Limardo Gascon from Venezuela. Beljajeva will be matched up with Russia's Anna Sivkova, who won Germany's Britta Heidemann in the semifinals.
The men's final starts at 21:30 and the women's final at 21:55 (Estonian time).
Novosjolov, a 33-year-old Haapsalu native, won the épée event at the 2010 world championships and took silver at the European championships in 2012.
Beljajeva, aged 21, was part of the team that won the European Championships in Zagreb in late June.