Nov. 8, 2010
PARIS, France – Current Notre Dame fencers Courtney Hurley (San Antonio, Texas) and Ewa Nelip (Katowice, Poland), along with former Irish teammate Kelley Hurley (San Antonio, Texas), competed in direct elimination play of the women’s epee on Monday at the 2010 FIE World Championships in Paris.
Courtney Hurley, representing the United States, competed against the fourth seed, Yania Shemyakina of Ukraine in the opening round. Shmyakina outlasted Hurley, pulling out a 9-8 win in overtime. Hurley finished 61st of 136 competitors. Despite the defeat at the senior level of competition, the International Fencing Association announced that Hurley won the World Cup Trophy for the best junior epeeist during the 2009-10 season, which will be presented to her in Zurich. She ended the year 22 points above Swedish fencer, Johanna Bergdahl, aided by winning five World Cup events during the circuit.
Nelip competed for her home country of Poland at the tournament. She narrowly defeated Johanna Bergdahl of Sweden, 14-13, in the opening round. Bergdahl was seeded 29th overall entering the direct elimination table. Yania Shemyakina, who advanced with the victory over Courtney Hurley, defeated Nelip 14-15, in the round of 32. Nelip ended competition 29th of 136 competitors.
Kelly Hurley, a 2010 Notre Dame graduate, recorded the best finish of the trio, edging Italy’s Mara Navarria, 15-11, and Germany’s Monika Sozanska, 15-9, to advance to the Round of 16. Kelley then fell 15-7 to Hungary’s Emese Szasz, who advanced to the epee final before losing to France’s Maureen Nisima, 15-10. K. Hurley finished competition 15th overall.
With individual bouts now over, team competition gets underway on Tuesday, beginning with sabre. Current Notre Dame sophomore Beatriz Almeida (Chappagua, N.Y.) will compete for Brazil’s squad while recent gold medalist Mariel Zagunis will fence for the fourth-seeded American squad.
Be sure to check back with und.com for continued updates on the Irish at the 2010 FIE World Championships.
-ND-