(Source: FIE)

The crème de la crème of fencing will participate in the 2013 World Combat Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Five out of the six top ranked fencers in the 2012/2013 season will compete from 24 – 26 October in the St. Petersburg Sports Complex: Arianna Errigo (ITA, women’s foil), Andrea Cassara (ITA, men’s foil), Ana Maria Branza (ROU, women’s epee), Rubén Limardo Gascón (VEN, men’s epee) and Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS, men’s sabre).

They will be joined by reigning world champions Miles Chamley-Watson (USA, men’s foil), Nikolai Novosjolov (EST, men’s epee) and Julia Beljajeva (EST, women’s epee).

Errigo and Reshetnikov stick out in particular among these top athletes as they both became double world champions at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. In St. Petersburg, they will compete on 24 October with the gold medal matches starting at 18:00 local time.

Men’s epee and women’s sabre is scheduled for 25 October. The fencing competitions close with women’s epee and men’s foil on 26 October.

Arianna Errigo said about the World Combat Games: “I am going to the World Combat Games with the feeling that it will be a special competition for me. It  is the first time that I will go on the piste as a World Champion, but this will undoubtedly give me a lot of strength. Furthermore, this event is taking place  in a moment when the new season is beginning. Personally, I don’t feel at my best, because I am working to be ready in January. But when I compete I do want to win and in Saint Petersburg I will do anything to reach the best result.”

FIE Secretary General Frederic Pietruszka said: “The FIE is content to have an additional competition that provides a high level platform for our stars. We are constantly looking at how we can reach out to new audiences. This is also why we launch a new Grand Prix series in the 2014/2015 season with nine top events in nine iconic places around the world.”

Great Britain will be represented by James Davis and Richard Kruse in the men’s foil event.

Fans and media can watch the matches live on http://www.youtube.com/user/combatgamechannel/feed
and follow the live results on www.worldcombatgames.com. 

The draw can be found here.