Katrina Lehis loses to Russian fencer at world championships

Estonian fencing star Katrina Lehis, the reigning European champion and world number one, has been eliminated from the women's individual épée event at the ongoing World Championships in Hong Kong. She lost to Russian fencer Anastassia Rustamova in the round of 32, the second round of the main draw.

Unlike her teammates in the women's and men's teams, Lehis did not have to go through qualifying. The women's individual competition started on Wednesday and concluded on Saturday, while the men's individual event reaches its climax on Sunday. The women's team event is scheduled for Tuesday, followed by the men's team a day later.

Lehis began her campaign with a convincing 15:5 victory over Finland's Suvi Lehtonen in the opening round. However, in the round of 32, she faced Russia's Anastassia Rustamova, who had narrowly defeated Seunghye Yang 15:14 in her first bout. Lehis lost the first third of the match 4:0, came within two points during the second third, but ultimately lost 15:4.

Other Estonian fencers also fell short. Irina Embrich lost 15:8 to Hungary's Blanka Virag Nagy, while Veronika Zuikova gave Paris Olympics silver medalist Marie-Florence Candassamy a tough fight before losing 15:14.

On the men's side, Sten Priinits and Kasper Tafenau advanced through qualifying and will begin the men's main draw early Sunday, Estonian time.