CHIBA (Reuters) – The United States will face the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Italy play France in the semifinals of the women’s foil teams event on Thursday, with the world’s top four teams set to vie for the gold later in the day.
The U.S. team have Lee Kiefer, who beat top-ranked Russian Inna Deriglazova in the individual competition to win gold.
Another team U.S. gold would make Kiefer the first U.S. fencer to win two gold medals at a single Olympic Games.
The United States maintained a steady lead over Japan in their quarterfinal. The last bout was played out between Kiefer and Japan’s Yuka Ueno, with Ueno winning more points than Kiefer.
But Ueno’s fightback was not enough to close the 10-point gap between the two teams, and the U.S. team won the match at 45-36.
The U.S. team will now face the ROC, which is ranked at number one and has Deriglazova, the gold medallist for individual foil at the 2016 Rio Olympics and silver medallist for the team event at the 2012 London Olympics.
Italy, which beat Hungary in the quarterfinals, will be looking to become the first country to win a medal in the women’s team foil competition seven times in a row at the Olympic Games. They are currently tied with the Soviet Union and Hungary at six consecutive medals.
The Italians have Alice Volpi, who missed out on a medal in the individual foil event and came in fourth.
They will face France across the piste in the semifinals.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
