Estonian women's fencing team aims to redeem itself at World Championships

The Estonian women's épée fencing team faces the team event at the World Championships in Hong Kong with a mission to rebound from individual disappointments. The competition, starting early Tuesday, will be covered live by Postimees.

Individually, the Estonian team struggled significantly. Tokyo Olympic team champions and individual medalists like Julia Beljajeva did not advance from the qualification round. The main draw saw the remaining trio manage only a single victory. World number one Katrina Lehis won her first bout against Finland's Suvi Lehtonen 15:5 but was decisively defeated 4:15 by Russia's Anastassia Rustamova. Veronika Zuikova narrowly lost 14:15 to France's Marie-Florence Candassamy, ranked fifth globally, while veteran Irina Embrich fell 8:15 to Hungary's Blanka Virag Nagy.

In the team competition, Estonia holds the seventh seed. Their opening match is against 26th-seeded Romania, which advanced two fencers to the main draw. Notably, Natalia Constantin of Romania eliminated Beljajeva in the individual event, though both Constantin and Emma Sont were eliminated in their first team match. A victory for Estonia would pit them against the winner of the match between Canada (10th seed) and Venezuela (23rd seed). Canada's top fencer, Ruien Xiao, is ranked 15th globally and reached the third round individually. A successful run through the first two matches could lead Estonia to a quarterfinal clash with second-seeded France.

Last year, Estonia finished sixth at the World Championships in Tbilisi. Since then, they secured a World Cup victory in Vancouver and a third-place finish in Fujairah. Their performance at the European Championships last month was fifth. The team's current form and potential for a strong showing in the team event remain a key focus.