Russia, Poland and Hungary to vie for women's foil team gold
15/8/2008 17:01
Eight teams will compete in the Olympic women's foil team event scheduled
for tomorrow, with Russia, Poland and Hungary being the top hopefuls to grab
medals.
Women's foil team event was not included in the 2004 Athens Games,
and in Sydney, Italy won the first place, followed by Poland and
Germany.
However, the latest rankings of the International Fencing Federation
has put Russia on top. The other seven teams are Poland, Hungary, Italy, China,
Germany, the United States and Egypt.
Russia will field in Svetlana Boyko,
Evgenia Lamonova, Victoria Nikichina and Aida Shanaeva while the Polish team
groups Karolina Chlewinska, Sylwia Gruchala, Magdalena Mroczekiwicz and
Malgorzata Wojtkowiak.
The foil, one of three swords used in Olympic fencing,
has a flexible rectangular blade with a blunt point. In foil events, points can
only be scored by touches with the point of the foil on the opponent's torso
between the collar and the hips.
There are four members in each team, with
one of them as substitute. The first members of each team fence against each
other for three minutes, or until one team has recorded five hits, then the next
pair take over.
This pattern continues until one team reaches 45 points, or
the end of regulation time in which case the team with the highest total wins
the match.
A minute of overtime is played if the scores are level, and the
first team to record a hit during this period wins the match.
Xinhua
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