Greece fails to qualify for women's saber main draw at World Fencing Championships, ending 19-year streak

Greece's 19-year streak of having a representative in the main draw of the women's saber event at the World Fencing Championships has been broken. For the first time since 2007, no Greek fencer advanced to the top 64 at the competition held in Hong Kong.

Greek athletes competed fiercely in the preliminary rounds, but none managed to secure a spot in the main tableau. Andriana Theodoropoulou, Nicole Chatzisarandou, Aris Tzovanis, and Despina Georgiadou all came within one victory of qualifying but ultimately fell short.

Despina Georgiadou had a strong showing in the pools, winning five out of six bouts. However, she lost her decisive knockout match 15-6 to Bulgaria's Veronika Vasileva, finishing 65th and narrowly missing the main draw. Alina Kourousi advanced from the pools but was eliminated in the first knockout round by Britain's Caitilin Maxwell. Dora Gountoura was particularly unlucky, suffering an ankle sprain in her first match and being forced to withdraw from the competition.

In other events, both Andriana Theodoropoulou and Nicole Chatzisarandou in women's épée reached the round before qualification but were eliminated, finishing 83rd and 96th, respectively. Aris Tzovanis also had a notable performance in men's saber, reaching the round before the main draw but losing to Austria's Josef Maringer, ending in 83rd place. Panagiotis Theodoropoulos placed 182nd. In men's foil, Ilias Giannis Rizos and Nikos Kontochristopoulos qualified from the pools but were eliminated in the knockouts, finishing 131st and 133rd.

The Greek delegation's participation continues in Hong Kong with Eleonora Kavvada, Katerina Kontochristopoulou, and Maria Chaldaiou competing in the women's foil preliminaries.