Fencer Maxine Esteban advances to Round of 64 of World Cup event, boosts Olympic bid


At a glance

  • Maxine Esteban boosted her campaign to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics after advancing to the main draw of the Mazars Challenge International de Paris at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium.


Maxine Esteban boosted her campaign to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics after advancing to the main draw of the Mazars Challenge International de Paris at the Pierre de Coubertin Stadium.

maxine esteban
Maxine Esteban boosts her bid to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics as she stays on track in the said world tilt. (File Photo/Maxine Esteban Facebook)

Esteban, who now represents Ivory Coast, placed 14th over 430 fencers in the senior ladies foil after sweeping her assignments to advance in the prestigious World Cup event which offers Olympic points and serves as dress rehearsal to the Paris Games.

Esteban came out unscathed at the end of the poules, winning all of her six matches to barge into the Round of 64 where she is set to face fellow qualifier Katarina Lung of the United States.

The former UAAP champion opened her bid in style, defeating Laeticia Jorgensen of Denmark before following it up with another victory over Yunjia Zhang of Canada.

She showed no letup and continued to roll with big wins over Gaia Cantucci of Slovakia and hometown bet Esther Bonny of France.

Esteban then closed out her assignments with a pair of victories over Germany’s Larissa Evers and Japan’s Shiori Takezawa.

Should Esteban win over Lung, she is marching to the Round of 32 where she is likely to face No. 3 seed Martina Favaretto of Italy who is taking on 62nd seed Hannah Lyczbinska of Poland.