Ukrainian saber fencer Olga Harlan sensationally lost in the first fight at the Olympic tournament in Tokyo and dropped out of the fight for awards.

Honored coach of Ukraine Valeriy Shturbabin shared his impressions of our saber fencer performance in Tokyo.

“The first number in the world rating Olga Harlan unpleasantly surprised. In the starting battle with a Chinese woman, I counted eight attacks at once, which our compatriot did not end with effective actions. This is not acceptable for a saber fencer who relies on an aggressive, sharply attacking style..

Harlan, indeed, passed a little. I explain this by the fact that she has recently been living in Italy and trains with local specialists.. Suffice it to say that according to available information, Olga trained as part of the Ukrainian national team only at the final stage of preparation for the Games in Tokyo.. I have nothing against the Italian coaches, but on the other hand, it is not known who Harlan's sparring partners were, how things were with motivation.

Olga returned from three Olympics in a row with awards and failure in Tokyo is a very painful blow. After all, we all really counted on her. In my opinion, after 2-3 months of rest, Harlan needs to decide for herself: in the foreground is personal life, or fencing, "

We will remind, 30-year-old Harlan could not reach the 1/8 finals of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In the 1/16 finals, she lost to the Chinese woman Yang Hengyu with a score of 12:15.

Source: Sport. ua.