In the third day of Cadet competition at the 2016 Cadet & Junior World Championships in Bourges, France, Canadian Cindy Gao (Toronto, ON) narrowly missed the medals, finishing sixth overall in a field of 113 fencers from around the world.

Gao started the day off strong with a 5-1 record in poules which advanced her directly to the 64's.  Gao had a challenging first bout against Masola Olivija from Lithuania but came out on top 15-13.  In the 32's Gao defeated Lma Huzayen of Egypt 15-8 which advanced her to the 16's, where she faced Anastasia Soldatova of Russia. It was another close battle with Gao once again taking the victory, 15-14. 

Gao advanced to the quarter-finals and faced Renata Petri of Hungary.  It was a back and forth battle that had to go into overtime.  Gao unfortunately lost this time 7-6 in the tiebreaker, which put her in 6^th place overall for the competition. 

Gao's 6^th place finish at the Cadet World Championships is the culmination of a strong season.  Gao won numerous International medals this season in cadet women's epee including a bronze medal in a European Fencing Circuit event in Germany, gold and silver in two different North American Cups, and 6 medals at the Cadet & Junior Pan Am Championships, including the gold medal in Junior women's epee.

Gao will compete in the Mixed Cadet team event on Monday and despite being cadet-aged, Gao has also qualified to compete in Junior Women's Epee Individual and Team.  Junior competition gets underway Tuesday in Bourges.

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