Brisbane teenager Alicia Kwag has a shot at making Olympic history after being named as one of six fencers to represent Australia at the Asia-Oceania qualifying competition in China.
The zone qualifying competition in Wuxi from April 11-12 represents the final chance for Australian fencers to qualify for the Rio Olympics, with each event open to countries in the region who have not yet qualified a fencer for the Games.
Entries are limited to one fencer per country for each of the six weapons.
Kwag, 16, competes in the women's foil, and if successful, she will become Australia's youngest Olympic fencer.
In order to qualify, fencers must win the competition in the men's foil, men's epee, women's epee and women's sabre, or finish in the top three in the women's foil and men's sabre.
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The team is headed by women's epee fencer Jo Halls from Melbourne, a 42-year-old veteran of the 2000 and 2008 Olympics, who is expected to be seeded first in her event.
Lucas Webber, 20, will line up in the men's foil with Jasper Rowley (20) in the men's sabre while Helen Phillips is in the women's sabre.
Fencing in the Asia-Oceania region has developed strongly over the past few years and the Australian team is likely to face tough competition from the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore, Iran, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
AUSTRALIAN TEAM
Men's Foil: Lucas Webber
Women's Foil: Alicia Kwag
Men's Epee: Kristian Radford
Women's Epee: Jo Halls
Men's Sabre: Jasper Rowley
Women's Sabre: Helen Phillips
