Katowice, Poland - SCAD Sophomore Maria Boldor made a strong showing at the World Cup event in Katowice, Poland. The outcome was a good one for Boldor, who continues her bid to represent Romania in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan later this year.

With 195 Fencers converging from around the world, the World Cup event featured a typical format. The starting field was separated into pools for the group stage of the event - a round robin format with bouts to 5 points. Those advancing out of the group stage progress to direct elimination, where the first to 15 points advances to the next round and the loser is out of the competition.

Boldor made a strong start to the contest with a 5-2 win over #42 ranked Leyla Pirieva of Russia. Two losses to #54 ranked Iman Blow and #221 ranked Nora Hajas put Maria's hopes of advancement in doubt. However she recovered to win her next two bouts against Yeongji Joo of Korea and Katarzyna Matysiak of Poland were enough to see her through to the final 128.

The SCAD Fencer's opponent in her first Direct Elimination bout was Sabrian Massialas, currently ranked #85 in the world. Boldor proved too much for her opponent, surging to a comfortable 15-4 victory. This brought her face-to-face with Mariana Pistoia of Brazil (#95 in the world). This proved a much closer contest, with Maria inching the win by  15-13 scoreline.

This win put Boldor through to the final 64, where she was face to face with Russian Inna Deriglazova. Deriglazova, the 2016 Olympic Champion in Rio, is currently ranked #1 in the world. Boldor put up a valiant fight before falling by the score of 15-9. Deriglazova would go on to win the entire event. The result puts Boldor into the world's top 100 foil fencers, with a #99 ranking.