Nickname(s) Ira Name Irina Embrich Hand left-handed Height 1.70 m | Club Pohjakotkas Weight 55 kg FIE Ranking current ranking Weapons Epee | |
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Born 12 July 1980 (age 43)
Tallinn, Estonia ( 1980-07-12 ) Education Tallinn University of Technology | ||
Scrima c m kazan 2014 irina embrich estonia ana maria branza romania fencing
Irina Embrich, née Zamkovaja (born 12 July 1980) is an Estonian épée fencer. She won an individual silver medal in the 2006 World Fencing Championships and gold medal with Estonian team in the 2017 World Championships. She is also a double European team champion from 2013 and 2016 European Fencing Championships.
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Biography
Embrich's first sport was gymnastics, but she resented the hard discipline of the Soviet era. She later took to rhythmic gymnastics and then fencing under coach Samuil Kaminski. She only ranked 20th then 12th in the cadet World championships in 1996 and 1998, but snatched the bronze medal in the junior event in 1999.
After high school Embrich studied chemistry at the Tallinn University of Technology. In 2004 her coach left Estonia for Norway. Épée champion Nikolai Novosjolov, who is the same age as her, accepted to train her under an equal footing more than a student-master relationship. The same year she married a fellow student and gave birth in 2005 to a daughter, Maša. She went on in her fencing career and won the silver medal at the épée 2006 World Fencing Championships after losing the final 15–11 versus Tímea Nagy, and then the bronze medal in 2007. She was named Estonian Sportswoman of the Year 2007 for these performances.
In the 2012–13 season she took a bronze medal in the World Cup events of Leipzig and Saint-Maur and won the team gold medal with Estonia in the European Championships in Zagreb. She ranked 10th in the World Championships in Budapest after she lost her T16 bout against Emese Szász, who eventually took a bronze medal.
In the 2013–14 season she placed second in the Budapest Grand Prix after being defeated 7–15 in the final by world no.1 Ana Maria Brânză. This result helped her reach the 4th place in world rankings. In the European Championships at Strasbourg, she was stopped in the table of 32 by World No.1 Emese Szász. In the team event, Estonia were defeated by Russia in the semi-final, then by Italy and finished fourth. In the World Championships in Kazan, Embrich reached the quarter-finals, defeating World No.2 Ana Brânză along the way. She was then defeated by Italy's Rossella Fiamingo, who eventually won the gold medal.