The women’s epee Grand Prix kicked off Thursday in Havana, through the qualifying event to reach the round of 64 in a fencing tournament that is expected to be of top quality.

The halls of the PABEXPO exhibition center are the venue for this the contest, where highlights the  presence of Romanian Ana Branza, current world champion and leader of the women’s ranking of the Fencing International Federation.

Other world-class athletes taking part in this competition are Hungarian Emese Szasz - runner up last year who appeared second on the world list, in addition to the third highest ranked athlete Chinese Xu Anqi.

Chinese Yujie Sun, winner of the gold medal by teams at London Olympics 2012, will also participate in the contest.

Mercedes del Risco, Cuban national fencing methodologist, told ACN the women´s epee event will be attended by 88 contestants, including 10 locals.

The main figures of the host squad are Yoslaine Cardinal, ranked 76 th in the wolrd ranking, plus Yamirka Rodriguez, bronze medalist at Guadalajara 2011 Pan-American Games.

Representatives from Canada, China, Italy, Venezuela, Sweden, Argentina, USA, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Germany, South Korea, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Spain, France, Australia and Hungary complete the list of competitors.