The Golden Gate Fencing Center took it upon themselves to support the community at large in light of the tragic events in Haiti. At the NAC in San Jose, the Golden Gate Fencing Center’s coaching staff challenged their athletes to a “Point-a-thon.” For every touch that their fencers scored, the coaches would donate one dollar to Haitian Earthquake relief efforts. The fencers were encouraged to ask friends and family to join in and pledge any amount per touch.
Lei Sheng (right) attacking Joppich in 2006. (c) FencingPhotos.com
Lei Sheng defeated Andrea Baldini 15-12 at the Venice foil grand prix event. Sheng (CHN) led a strong Chinese squad who placed 3 fencers (Sheng, Zhu Jun - 6th, Huang Liangcai - 9th) in the top 10.
Italy also placed 3 in the top 10 with Andrea Cassara (3rd) and Marco Ramacci (10th) joining Baldini.
Mariel Zagunis continued her run of medals for this world cup season with a 2nd place finish at the Moscow Sabre Grand Prix. The two-time Olympic champion lost in the finals 15-10 to China's Y. Bao.
Dagmara Wozniak entered seeded 12th and upset 5th seeded Bianco (ITA) 15-6. She lost in the round of 8 to 2008 Bronze Medalist Sophia Velikaya (RUS). This is Wozniak's 3rd consecutive top-8 finish and she looks to be having a breakout season.
Zsolt Nemcsik (HUN) dashes Russian hopes and wins the Moscow Sabre Grand Prix event, defeating Korea's Eun Seok Oh 15-12. The top US finish was Tim Morehouse in the top-16, finishing 11th.
Russia was expected to do well at the Grand Prix, as this is their home town event. The video below highlights the Russian point of view of the event results:
This fencing mask failed in Odense and all Visor masks are now forbidden in FIE foil and epee competitions.
UPDATE (11:40pm): The USFA has banned the use of the visor mask in foil and epee, effective immediately.
Following the receipt of lab results from the FIE Visor foil mask which was pierced at the 2009 European Junior Championships in Odense (November 2009), the FIE issued an urgent letter stating:
Therefore, the Executive Committee has decided to suspend and
forbid, until further notice, the use of the transparent visor mask
both in foil and epee, at all FIE official competitions.
It was found that the failed mask did not adhere to all of the manufacturing recommendations of the FIE. Full text of the letter can be found on the FIE site.
Orleans, France: The US Women's Sabre team defeated France 45-44 to win the team title at the Orleans Grand Prix. In the individual event, Ukranian Olga Kharlan defeated Mariel Zagunis (USA) 15-13 to take the women's individual title.
The US team of Mariel Zagunis, Dagmara Wozniak, Daria Schneider, and Emily Jacobson survived a first round scare against Romania, edging out the 45-44 win. They they went on to a 45-29 trouncing of Italy before facing off against the 2008 Olympic Champion Ukrainians.
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Mariel Zagunis continued her run of medals for this world cup season with a 2nd place finish at the Moscow Sabre Grand Prix. The two-time Olympic champion lost in the finals 15-10 to China's Y. Bao. 
Orleans, France: The US Women's Sabre team defeated France 45-44 to win the team title at the Orleans Grand Prix. In the individual event, Ukranian Olga Kharlan defeated Mariel Zagunis (USA) 15-13 to take the women's individual title.
