Great Britain closer to Olympic men's foil place after Paris bronze
Last updated on .From the section Fencing
Great Britain's men's foil fencing team increased their chances of qualifying for this year's Rio Olympics by finishing third at the Paris World Cup.
James Davis, Laurence Halsted, Richard Kruse and Marcus Mepstead gained a 35-34 sudden-death win over South Korea in the third-place match.
Britain are set to finish outside the top four automatic qualification spots.
That means they need to be the next-best European team in the rankings to qualify for Rio.
Britain, who are seventh, boosted their chances in that respect by winning 40 ranking points - 15 more than nearest European rivals Germany - after beating them 39-35 in the round of 16.
The last event of the men's foil Olympic qualification series takes place in the German city of Bonn on 7 February.
It could get complicated for Britain, though, as they must not only stay ahead of Germany, but also rely on France, Russia and Italy remaining in the top four automatic qualification places - as if any of them drop out, they would then become the next-best European team instead.
| Men's foil - overall qualification rankings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | Pts |
| 1 | France | 352 |
| 2 | Russia | 334 |
| 3 | USA | 332 |
| 4 | Italy | 324 |
| 5 | China | 294 |
| 6 | Japan | 236 |
| 7 | Great Britain | 229 |
| 8 | South Korea | 217 |
| 9 | Egypt | 209 |
| 10 | Germany | 200 |
