Last chance for Olympic hopeful Cohen (From Croydon Guardian)

Last chance for Olympic hopeful Cohen

6:35pm Wednesday 14th March 2012 in Sport By Graham Moody, Sports Reporter

Mary Cohen has one last chance to boost her hopes of qualifying for this summer’s Olympic Games, writes Graham Moody.

The epee fencer from Wandsworth had a disappointing result at the World Cup in Barcelona last weekend, where she came 151st out of 240 in the individual competition.

But she has one World Cup left, in St Maur in France in 10 days time, where she, and the GB team, needs a good result if she is to make the squad for the Games and if GB is to send a team.

In Barcelona, Cohen eased through the group stages and won her first knockout match by beating Spaniard Elena Damas 15-8.

But, in the next round, she lost 15-9 to Italian Francesca Boscarelli, who finished 28th overall.

It left her the sixth-placed Brit at the event, although only one, Corilla Lawrence, got to the next round, where she lost.

Cohen was not included in the epee team, who need good performances if they are to get a wildcard to the Games, as they came 18th having reached the round of 32.

Meanwhile, British Fencing has issued an apology to Cohen for mis-reporting her performance in the previous World Cup in Budapest.

It was reported Cohen lost 15-4 to Danuta Dmowska-Andrzejuk in the preliminary knockouts when in fact she beat the former world champion 15-14 for one of the best wins of her career.

She then lost 15-4 to world number 24 Nathalie Moellhausen in the next round.

“She has always been a great ambassador for the sport of fencing,” said British Fencing.