Estonian fencers take first, second place in Turku satellite tournament
Nelli Paju defeated Kristina Kuusk 15:11 in the final round of women's épée at a World Cup satellite tournament in Turku, Finland on Sunday, bringing home first- and second-place wins.
Paju racked up five wins and suffered one loss in her subgroup. In the top 32, she defeated Finland’s Milla Jamsen 15:9, moving on to narrowly defeat Russia’s Alexandra Magdich 15:14 in the top 16. Paju thereafter beat fellow Estonian Erika Kirpu 15:11 in the quarterfinals and Sweden’s Asa Linde 15:7 in the semifinals.
Kuusk likewise started out with five wins and a loss in her subgroup. In the top 32 and 16 alike she defeated her opponent 15:5 — Finland’s Sofia Tauriainen and Lithuanian Vikte Azukaite, respectively. Kuusk went on to defeat Finland’s Suvi Lehtonen 15:12 in the quarterfinals and Austria’s Paula Schmidl 15:10 in the semifinals.
Erika Kirpu defeated all six opponents in her subgroup, going on to defeat Finland’s Sara Salminen 15:5 in the top 32 and Taipei fencer Ya Fang Chen 14:2 in the top 16. Kirpu placed 5th overall in Turku.
Anu Hark earned two wins and suffered four losses in her subgroup, following which she defeated Italian Camilla di Dio Russo 15:8 in the top 64 and Finland’s Ilona Syvala 15:13 in the top 32. In the top 16, however, she lost 15:10 to Austria’s Paula Schmidl, placing 16th overall.
Gaia-Marianna Salm earned three wins and suffered three losses in her subgroup, after which she was defeated 15:9 by Lithuanian Vikte Azukaite. Salm placed 24th overall in the Turku competition, where 48 fencers competed in the women’s épée.
Editor: Aili Vahtla