Senior WS Grand Prix--Hanoi

[Capt. Slo-mo]

They're down to the top four, and the USA has 3 in the finals.

Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson and Becca Ward are joined by Tan Xue of China for the final bouts in a couple of hours.

[KD5MDK]

Good job USA! Good luck with the DE tree.
Who else did we send and how did they do? Did they pick up points?

[fencing freakster]

Dear Captain,
keep up the news!!!!! asap please!!!!
Sincerely,
A friendly freak

[silver2e]

Results are posted on FIE site.
Liste de résultats

1 64 TAN Xue CHN
2 52 WARD Rebecca USA
3 40 ZAGUNIS Mariel
3 40 JACOBSON Sada

[occasionalfencer]

Results are posted on FIE site.
Liste de résultats

1 64 TAN Xue CHN
2 52 WARD Rebecca USA
3 40 ZAGUNIS Mariel
3 40 JACOBSON Sada

I don't understand- how could Becca be 52nd if she is in the final four?

[silver2e]

Occasional, first number is rank, 52 is points awarded!

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Notes from Hanoi, Land of the People's Harmonious Humidity:

Climate-wise, what could be more pleasant than Vietnam in late spring? The lotus blossoms are wilting, the mosquitos darken the sun as they drone past in formation, and the heat index is so high, the fencer's beads of sweat are popping their own beads of sweat.

And that's just in the venue.

The only thing worse would be a summer meet in the desert, someplace like Saharan Timbuktu, or Las Vegas. Wait...

This was the first stop on the Women's Saber "March of Multitudinous Mileages": four World Cups in four weeks, three of them Grand Prix events. Grand Prix, as you may remember, is a term derived from the ancient Latvian root "Grand Prix", which roughly translates as: "Sure, it's in the middle of nowhere, and frequently seems like a political bone tossed to tiny federations in return for future favors, but hey, you get double points, so shut up and eat your smoked lutefisk and while you're at it, better fix the holes in your mosquito netting." The fine translation takes up an entire scroll of sheepskin.

Before the Grand Prix Grand Tour is over, the ladies will have visited Hanoi, Tianjin, Havana and Las Vegas, with team meets tacked on at three of the four events. It's not a schedule conducive to rest.

As in Klagenfurt earlier in the month, the fourth slot on the Olympic team is very much in play. Going into Hanoi, Dagmara Wozniak holds a 704 point lead over Caity Thompson. On the first day, Dagmara turns her ankle in the first pool bout and is unable to advance to the round of 64. Caroline Vloka also fails to advance for the USA. Caity makes it to the round of 32, where she has to face teammate Becca Ward. Caity's day ends there, but she picks up 684 USFA points (should the meet be ranked as a 2.0 strength factor) so she and Dagamara are back to a dead heat.

Dead heat...and that's just in the venue.

Emma Baratta also makes it to the round of 32. Mariel and Sada advance as well. In the round of 16, Becca gets a little payback for her loss in Turkey at the Junior World Championships, drubbing Russia's Ekaterina Diatchek 15-7.

In the round of 8, Sada has to shake off an injury on the strip and come from behind to gain her berth in the top four, and is joined by Becca, Mariel and Tan Xue of China. Sada won this meet last year.

In the first semi bout, Tan Xue dispatches Mariel to advance. Becca and Sada have another of their serene, relaxed, race up and down the strip until they hyperventilate bouts, this time running the score to 14-14 before Becca slips past into the final.

Tan Xue prevails 15-12 in a gutsy bout marred by frequent stops for equipment malfunctions.

The ladies get a night's sleep, and then it's back on the strip for the all-important team meet. The USA currently holds a 68 point lead over Russia for the top team slot.

Final standings:

1 TAN Xue CHN
2 WARD Rebecca USA
3 ZAGUNIS Mariel USA
3 JACOBSON Sada USA
5 PERRUS Leonore FRA
6 JOZWIAK Bogna POL
7 VELIKAIA Sophia RUS
8 ARGIOLAS Cecile FRA

9 FEDORKINA Ekaterina RUS
10 TOUYA Anne-Lise FRA
11 BIANCO Ilaria ITA
12 MARZOCCA Gioia ITA
13 DIATCHENK Ekaterina RUS
14 MARY Solenne FRA
15 LEE Shin Mi KOR
16 KORMILITSYNA Svetlana

27 THOMPSON Caitlin USA
30 BARATTA Emma USA

32 JOHANNSDOTTIR Gudrun ISL (gotta give props to Gudrun...it's not every day you see a fencer from Iceland in the top 32. Just don't get her confused with Thorbjorg Agustdottir, who finished 94. Johann and Agust hate that when it happens.)

55 GRENCH Eileen USA
68 WOZNIAK Dagmara USA
70 VLOKA Caroline USA

[achilles_heal]

32 JOHANNSDOTTIR Gudrun ISL (gotta give props to Gudrun...it's not every day you see a fencer from Iceland in the top 32. Just don't get her confused with Thorbjorg Agustdottir, who finished 94. Johann and Agust hate that when it happens.)
[/B]

hahahaha

thanks as usual for the commentary. i wish d. had done better. she's the nj hometown favorite.

how serious was this injury?

[KD5MDK]

Apparently not so bad she couldn't go 15-14 against the World Champion...

[Capt. Slo-mo]

I think AH is referring to Dagmara...

I hear it's wrapped and sore, but nowhere near the level of the ankle injury she sustained in Italy in 2006 that resulted in Dagmara being taken off to the hospital in an army ambulance. Allegedly it's the same ankle, though, so that could be a problem over the next few weeks for her.

The ladies are travelling to China immediately after the Hanoi team event for a training camp and then another Grand Prix. The US squad does have a great trainer with them for this trip, so hopefully John can get Dagmara back in fighting shape, if indeed the injury is minor.

Achilles...that may be the most disturbing avatar on the board.

[Coldfire]

Achilles...that may be the most disturbing avatar on the board.

Yeah I usually just look at the avatar to see who is posting and then I saw that and went

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

This was the first stop on the Women's Saber "March of Multitudinous Mileages": four World Cups in four weeks, three of them Grand Prix events. Grand Prix, as you may remember, is a term derived from the ancient Latvian root "Grand Prix", which roughly translates as: "Sure, it's in the middle of nowhere, and frequently seems like a political bone tossed to tiny federations in return for future favors, but hey, you get double points, so shut up and eat your smoked lutefisk and while you're at it, better fix the holes in your mosquito netting." The fine translation takes up an entire scroll of sheepskin.

As one of the resident Scandinavians, I wish to take exception to this version of humour. Lutefisk is a Norwegian foodstuff, and you as a sabre follower will never have to eat it during a sabre meet. Some years ago, the Norwegian Fencing Federation decided to focus its meagre resources, and cut the ROW weapons from its activies. It has paid off; they have gotten medals in ME World championships since then.

32 JOHANNSDOTTIR Gudrun ISL (gotta give props to Gudrun...it's not every day you see a fencer from Iceland in the top 32. Just don't get her confused with Thorbjorg Agustdottir, who finished 94. Johann and Agust hate that when it happens.)

OTOH, Iceland (a country the size of Wyoming, but a much lower population density; total population about 250,000) has not done anything similar. Sabre has always been their #1 weapon in all respects, IIRC.


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[Capt. Slo-mo]

As one of the resident Scandinavians, I wish to take exception to this version of humour.

See, Peter, living in such close proximity to the lutefisk spawning grounds makes you far too dour! I would bet that almost anyone outside of ScandinaviaLand would find it impossible to say "Smoked Lutefisk" without chuckling.

Or gagging.

And it's not even a Latvian food...which, see, makes it even funnier...ahh, well, when you have to explain the joke...

Lutefisk is a Norwegian foodstuff, and you as a sabre follower will never have to eat it during a sabre meet.

Ahh, but what about the poor lads at the Men's Epee "Challenge Bernadotte GP & Lutefisk Eating Challenge" in Stockholm this summer? I understand that after last year's debacle the maximum amount of lutefisk any competitor is allowed to consume is 6 oz. (that's 170.097 grams for the rest of the civilized world)

Not to mention the LollapaLutefiskalooza celebration during the Tournoi Satellite épée masculine competition in Copenhagen this fall! If you've never seen a whole crowd of people swaying and holding aloft burning lutefisk filets during the encore of "FreeBird", you just haven't lived.

I should mention that I have actually consumed lutefisk (unsmoked), so it's fair game for me to have a little fun with it.

[KD5MDK]

It would appear that Iceland is sticking to its cultural heritage, relatively. Hardly a surprise, given their language.

[achilles_heal]

I think AH is referring to Dagmara...


Achilles...that may be the most disturbing avatar on the board.

thanks for info.

i get bored with avatars. this one is genuinely unsettling, so it suits me for the moment. i'll change it again when life calms down a bit.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

Team event: Not a total success for the USA, who won this event last year. Placements:

1 FRANCE
2 UKRAINE
3 U.S.A.
4 RUSSIA
5 POLAND
6 HUNGARY
7 KOREA
8 CHINA
9 ITALY
10 GERMANY
11 GREAT BRITAIN
12 HONG KONG
13 CANADA
14 JAPAN
15 AZERBAIJAN
16 VIETNAM
17 THAILAND
18 SINGAPORE
19. LUTEFISKIA (d.q. and black-carded from venue)

The team event may get interesting before the Olympic year of qualification is over. Before today, the standings of the top four were:

1. USA 384
2. Russia 256
3. France 238
4. Ukraine 220

After Vietnam, it should look like this:

1. USA 360
2. France 277
3. Russia 260
4. Ukraine 248

Doing the math, before Hanoi, the USA had a 128 point lead on Russia, 146 on France and 164 on Ukraine. Now, in one meet, it's reduced to 83 over France, 100 over Russia and 112 over the Ukraine.

There should be 5 more team competitions to go: Tianjin, Vegas, the 2007 World Champs, Budapest and Italy (or similar) next winter. Tianjin may be new points for everyone, but the USA has a win in Vegas and a 2nd at the Worlds and at Budapest to defend, or face another net loss of points. There's definately a chance for improvement over their 4th place finish in Foggia in February.

Barring a total collapse, the USA should still have scant difficulty making the top four, and securing a place in the Olys for the team and the top 3 US fencers.

Any coach will tell you, though, that seeding in these events is of paramount important, so the US will definately be fighting to retain that #1 slot through the end of March, 2008.

[downunder]

I think it will be the canadians who might be wanting the US to finish in the top 4 more than the US itself .

[occasionalfencer]

Team event: Not a total success for the USA, who won this event last year. Placements:

19. LUTEFISKIA (d.q. and black-carded from venue)

.

Is this a joke? I know, if you have to explain it... but, is it a joke? If not, what does it mean?

[erooMynohtnA]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk

It's gross.

[Capt. Slo-mo]

19. LUTEFISKIA (d.q. and black-carded from venue) you have to explain it...what does it mean?

It led to a pretty bizarre moment. A strapping team of Nordic-looking women with LFA on their lames showed up for the first round. Their saber masks had odd-looking, non-regulation Viking style horns affixed, but no inspection marks.

The helpful staff directed them to the equipment control table, where the masks were hooked to an ohm meter. Everyone expected them to fail, but to the staff's surprise, the twisted horns showed no electrical resistance. At all. In fact, they appeared to have super-conductivity properties.

Eventually, of course, the illegal horns had to be removed, and were discovered to be crafted from laminated layers of fossilized lutefisk. There was much head scratching.

Just as they were about to hook up on the strip with Thailand, an official ran out on the piste and waved off the bout, having discovered that Lutefiskia is not actually a country, nor does it have a fencing federation. The team was black-carded, and ordered out of the fencing center.

It wasn't a toal loss, though. The team was met at the door by an administrator from CERN (the European particle physics laboratory) who bought all the fossilized lutefisk material for future study, at a price alleged to be in the high six figures (Euros).

Now you know!