Byrne seeks Olympic fencing place
Friday, 25 April 2008 18:54Ireland's leading fencer Siobhan Byrne will compete in the Eurozone Olympic qualifying tournament in Istanbul on Saturday in her final attempt to book a place at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Byrne, who competes in the Sabre weapon category, will face a stern challenge to attain qualification for the Beijing Games as only the top two finishers in Istanbul will secure Olympic qualification.
There are nine countries competing for only the two places; Romania, Greece, Great Britain, Spain, Iceland, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, hosts Turkey and Byrne of Ireland.
Byrne is in her final year of a sports scholarship at Ohio State University, where she is studying Health Management.
She has been supported under the Irish Sports Council's International Carding Scheme and Performance Planning Programme for the last number of years.
