Who are the world's best wheelchair fencers?
18.07.2013Take a look at the six Ones to Watch wheelchair fencers with just three weeks to go until the sport’s World Championships.
China's Yijun Chen reacts after winning his first wheelchair fencing Paralympic gold at the London 2012 Games.
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Yu Chui Yee won her seventh Paralympic gold medal during the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
© • Getty Images
Beatrice Vio
© • Augusto Bizzi
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A number of activities will also be implemented across print, online and social media in a concerted effort to boost the profiles of the Ones to Watch athletes and make them household names for years to come.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC), together with the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS), have picked out six of the world’s top wheelchair fencers to watch at this year’s World Championships, as well as on the road to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
With exactly three weeks to go until the 2013 IWAS World Wheelchair Fencing World Championships take place in Budapest, Hungary, the Ones to Watch campaign will begin to showcase the sport’s top athletes. All of these athletes have either won medals at a Paralympic Games or another major international event, and in addition have had strong appearances in the media.
Two notable names on the list include Hong Kong’s Yu Chui Yee and Italy’s Beatrice Vio.
Yee is a seven-time Paralympic gold medallist who has not looked back since being diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 11.
Vio, who is the only wheelchair fencer in the world with no arms or legs, did not participate at London 2012 but instead was a Paralympic Torchbearer.
After winning two Grand Prix events this year, though, she’s a safe bet to win multiple medals in her Paralympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games.
China’s Yijun Chen – a double-gold medallist at London 2012 – and France’s Romain Noble– who has a bright future in the men’s category A events – are also included on the list, as is Hungarian wheelchair fencing star Zsuzanna Krajnyak, who has been competing at the Paralympics since the Sydney 2000 Games.
These names are not necessarily the Ones to Watch athletes for the Rio 2016 Games, but are the ones to keep your eyes on at the upcoming World Championships, as well as Grand Prix and regional events on the piste.
The 2013 IWAS World Wheelchair Fencing World Championships will take place from 7-12 August, and then later this year the final event of the 2013 Grand Prix series will take place from 17-21 December in Hong Kong.
A number of activities will also be implemented across print, online and social media in a concerted effort to boost the profiles of the Ones to Watch athletes and make them household names for years to come.
The IPC’s Ones to Watch campaign launched in the lead-up to London 2012, when a new section was included within Paralympic.org, entitled Ones to Watch. This series of pages was designed to raise the profiles of leading medal contenders in Paralympic sports and act as an essential media resource.
