Seeded #5 in the World Cup rankings entering the tournament, Zagunis climbed through the competition easily until a 15-10 match with rival Tan of China to reach the quarterfinals. Zagunis last met Tan in the Gold medal match at the 2004 Olympic Games.

In the quarterfinals Zagunis defeated Kaneko of Japan 15-10. In the semifinal match, Zagunis had a dramatic 15-14 finish against Kharlan of the Ukraine. Zagunis finished the bout on a stop hit to make a one light victory over the young opponent.

In the gold medal match Zagunis lost her momentum from the start and was down at the break by several touches. Short attacks and a few miscalculations on her distance led to her loss to Sophia Velikaia of Russia 15-10. "I just ran out of energy and my concentration lapsed to finish the bout," said Zagunis.

The U.S. Women’s Saber team of Sada Jacobson (Dunwoody, Ga.), Dagmara Wozniak (Colonia, N.J.) , Rebecca Ward (Beaverton, Ore.) and Emma Baratta (Somerville, N.J.) took silver at the following day’s team World Cup.

Missing Zagunis and Caitlin Thompson of the 2005 World Championships team, who departed after the individual event, the U.S. team showed its depth and strength by reaching the gold medal round without two strong team players.

Easily defeating the British in the first round (45-26) but narrowly taking the victory against the tough Polish team (45-42) in the next round; the Americans went into the semifinal match against the Hungarians with confidence and emerged with a victory, 45-37.

The gold medal match against long-time rival Russia was exciting from the start. The U.S. women held a significant lead of 9-10 points until the last three rounds. A few tactical errors and miscalculations resulted in the U.S.
losing the lead by one touch as they headed into the last two rounds. Unable to regain the lead, the U.S. lost 39-45.

Photos of the event are available at www.sportfm.hu.

Results
Senior A Gran Prix World Cup
Budapest, Hungary, 25-26 February 2006
114 competitors
1 VELIKAIA Sophia  RUS
2 ZAGUNIS Mariel  (20, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance/Notre Dame)
3 KHARLAN Olga  UKR
3 JOZWIAK Bogna  POL
5 BIANCO Ilaria  ITA
6 BUJDOSO Alexandra  GER
7 KOZLOVA Nina  UKR
8 KANEKO Sakura  JPN
13. Wozniak Dagmara (17, Colonia, N.J./Fencers Club) 19. Ward Rebecca (16, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance) 33. Jacobson, Sada (23, Dunwoody, Ga./Nellya Fencers) 38. Baratta, Emma (21, Somerville, N.J./Medeo F.C./Columbia ‘06) 55. Thompson, Caitlin (18, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance/Penn State ’08)

Team World Cup
15 teams
1. Russia
2. U.S.A.
- Emma Baratta (21, Somerville, N.J./Medeo F.C./Columbia ‘06)
- Sada Jacobson (23, Dunwoody, Ga./Nellya Fencers)
- Rebecca Ward  (16, Beaverton, Ore./Oregon Fencing Alliance)
- Dagmara Wozniak (17, Colonia, N.J./Fencers Club) 3. France 4. Hungary

Men’s Saber Senior A World Cup
Seoul, S. Korea, 26 Jan 2006
99 competitors
1 NEMCSIK Zsolt  HUN
2 PILLET Julien  FRA
3 WANG Jingzhi  CHN
3 LAPKES Dmitri  BLR
5 COVALIU Mihai  ROM
6 HUEBNER Bjoern  GER
7 LONTAY Balazs  HUN
8 APITHY Bolade  FRA
13 SMART Keeth (27, Brooklyn, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation)
38 LEE Ivan (24, Brooklyn, N.Y./Westbrook Foundation)
61 MOREHOUSE Timothy (27, Bronx, N.Y./Fencers Club)
71 CLEMENT Luther (21, Prairie Village, Kans./ Fencing Athletic Club of Kans. City/Columbia ’08)
99 EFSTATHIOU Evangelos (27, Boston, Mass./Charles River F.C.)

Cindy Bent Findlay
US Fencing Media Relations
USFencingMedia@earthlink.net <mailto:USFencingMedia@earthlink.net>  *
614.746.6733
www.USFencing.org