With the Worlds scheduled for Iksan, South Korea, in September there is plenty to play for. 

This is no truer than for hosts Brazil. They managed to qualify a large contingent for the Paris 2024 Paralympics, many of whom will return in Sao Paulo. 

They include Carminha Oliveira, Rayssa Veras, Monica Santos, Luis Chaves, Lenilson de Oliveira and Kevin Damasceno. 

Jovane Guissone, Tokyo 2020 silver medallist in the men’s epee category B, is their headline act getting his latest season underway. 

The Sao Paulo 2025 World Cup can be watched live between 20-22 February at the World Para Fencing website. 

Quality on parade 

In the women’s sabre category A, Georgia’s Nina Tibilashvili returns as a now two-time Paralympic medallist. 

At Paris 2024, Tibilashvili added bronze to her silver from Tokyo 2020 and is the woman to beat as the top seed. In 2024, the Georgian achieved a 100 per cent World Cup podium record including at the last edition in Pisa, Italy, in November. 

Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Krajnyak could be forgiven for kicking-back after Paris 2024, where she won her 12th Paralympic medal alongside her teammates in the women’s foil team. 

But the 46-year-old is gearing up for a ninth World Championships where she hopes to grab her 23rd top three finish – and maybe more. At the last edition in Terni, Italy, Krajnyak was part of the bronze medal winning team in both the foil and epee and is a serial World Cup medallist in individual events. 

Countdown to LA 2028 is on 

The upcoming World Championships will mark three years to go until the next Paralympics in Los Angeles in 2028. 

The US team have been gathering strength since they were awarded the Games and sent their biggest ever team to Paris last year.  

Returning for more in 2025 are Ellen Geddes and William Schoonover. Geddes is the reigning regional champion in the women’s foil category B whilst Schoonover claimed both foil and epee titles in the men’s category A. 

Look out also for 16-year-old Abe Kaplan who made his debut in 2023 and will surely have his sights firmly fixed on his home Paralympics. 

And who could forget the incredible story of Scott Rodgers. Rodgers retired after Beijing 2008 following a successful World Cup career with multiple podiums, but came back in 2022 in anticipation of a home Games. That same year, Rodgers won silver and bronze at the Americas Championships in the men’s foil and epee category B and followed that up with regional silver in foil in 2024. 

Big ambitions, broad shoulders 

Francia Jaimez Rojas made history at Paris 2024 by becoming the first Venezuelan Para fencer to compete at a Paralympics. Rojas is in Sao Paulo hoping to add to her first World Cup top 10 finish achieved in the sabre and epee in Pisa in November. 

Latvia’s Olegs Garkuls-Gurevics topped his first World Cup podium in Pisa in the men’s epee category B. That followed a stellar 2024 season with two other top three finishes as the Latvian shows promise for a Paralympic debut at LA 2028. 

Few fencers show more commitment to their craft than Japan’s Anri Sakurai. The now 36-year-old moved to London before Tokyo 2020 to train, and stayed on in Great Britain. Sakurai celebrated a top five finish in the women’s epee category B in Paris and is the top-ranked fencer in Sao Paulo. 

The Sao Paulo 2025 Para Fencing World Cup runs from 20-22 February. It will feature individual men’s and women’s events across epee, foil and sabre category A and B. 

It is the first of five World Cups taking place in all corners of the world in 2025, including Italy, Hungary, Poland, Indonesia and Thailand. It is also the first to take place under World Para Fencing following a rebrand in January 2025 that aims to widen the sport’s impact and appeal. 

The Iksan 2025 Para Fencing World Championships will head to the capital of fencing in South Korea from 2-7 September.