Fencing: Ireland's Siobhán Byrne finished in 29th place at the World Championships in Turin, Italy, yesterday morning. The 22-year-old Ohio State University scholarship student went down 15-10 in her last-32 match to Lim Hye Kim of Korea, a fencer 21 places above Byrne in the world rankings.

Byrne had made a strong showing in yesterday's pool stage, winning four of her six matches to advance to the direct-elimination stage seeded 32 of the 64 competitors. Her best result came against Madoka Hisagae of Japan - 21st in the world - Byrne defeating her 5-4 in a thrilling match.

Byrne then took on Italian Loreta Gulotta in her last-64 match and fenced confidently and shrewdly to take the match 15-10.

An hour later she faced Kim but the rankings rang true as the Korean took the match 15-10 to advance to the last 16 and leave Byrne placed 29th overall.