China aims to gain experience at Fencing World Championships in Egypt

CAIRO, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The 2022 Fencing World Championships kicked off here on Friday, following the cancellation of the previous two editions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the absence of Tokyo Olympic women's epee champion Sun Yiwen, China sent a 26-strong team to participate in all 12 men's and women's events of the fencing worlds, with only eight fencers on the team having competed at the Tokyo Games.

"Our goal for the World Championships is to earn as many ranking points as possible, laying a solid foundation for the Paris 2024 qualifications," Wang Haibin, president of the Chinese Fencing Association, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview prior to the championships. "Another goal is for our new members to gain experience."

According to the schedule, individual pools will run through Sunday, followed by the individual finals on July 18-20, while the team events will take place from July 21 to 23.

After the preliminaries of the women's epee and men's sabre on Day 1 in Cairo, all eight Chinese fencers in these two categories advanced to the round of 64.

Following is the roster of the Chinese team:

Women's Epee: Zhu Mingye, Lin Sheng, Shi Yuexin, Yu Sihan, Xu Nuo (team)

Women's Foil: Chen Qingyuan, Shi Yue, Cai Yuanting, Wu Peilin

Women's Sabre: Fu Ying, Guo Yiqi, Lin Kesi, Yang Hengyu

Men's Epee: Lan Minghao, Wang Zijie, Yu Lefan, Du Jiaming, Liu Yongchuang (team)

Men's Sabre: Xu Yingming, Lin Xiao, Yan Yinghui, Shen Chenpeng

Men's Foil: Mo Ziwei, Wu Bin, Xu Jie, Zeng Zhaoran