Good debut of Cubans at World Fencing Championships

HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 16 (acn) Cubans Yamirka Rodriguez and Diamelis Gonzalez advanced to the round of 64 after a good debut in the women´s epee event of the 2019 World Fencing Championships running in Budapest, Hungary, until July 23.
Rodriguez, 2011 Pan American Games bronze medalist, got four wins and two losses in the preliminary stage; while in the next phase she beat Finn Ilona Sybala (15-6) and Belgian Amber de Pestel (15-11).

In the case of Gonzalez, she achieved five wins with only one loss, to then defeat Portuguese Fabiana Bonito (15-12) and Spanish Alejandra Cisneros (15-10) in the round of 128, according to the official website of the tournament.
Next Thursday, in the round of 32, Rodriguez will have a very tough opponent in Italian Rossella Fiamingo, 2014 and 2015 world champion; while Gonzalez will face UK´s Susan Maria Sica, current British monarch.
Another Cuban, Ceili Mendoza, also competed in the opening day of the women´s epee event but she couldn´t advance to the round of 64 as she had negative balance of two wins and four losses.
The also Cuban Hansel Rodriguez was also eliminated after achieving Mendoza´s same balance, but in the men´s sabre contest.
The Caribbean island will be present today in this major competition through Yunior Reytor, Reinier Henriquez and Luis Patterson in the men´s epee individual qualification.
The three of them recently earned the crown in the team event of the 2019 Senior Pan Am Fencing Championship of Toronto, Canada.
In the history of the World Fencing Championships, Cubans accumulate 20 medals (6-5-9), although they do not rise to the podium since the 2001 edition of Nimes, France, where the men's foil team ranked third.
This strong tournament in Budapest is an excellent opportunity for a warm-up before the Pan-American Games of Lima, which will be held from next July 26 to August 11, where the Cuban fencers will try to improve the performance of Toronto 2015, where they only earned a bronze medal through the men's epee team.