Irma Khetsuriani

Wheelchair fencer from Georgia

Irma Khetsuriani (Georgian: ირმა ხეცურიანი) is a wheelchair fencer from Georgia. She tried to help women and sportspeople with disabilities in Georgia. She is the first woman to be a member of the Georgia national wheelchair fencing team. She works for the Georgian Paralympic Committee as an office manager.

Irma Khetsuriani
Personal information
Full nameირმა ხეცურიანი
Nationality Georgia
BornAbkhazia, Georgia
Medal record
Wheelchair fencing
IWAS World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2015 Eger Women’s Sabre B
IWAS World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2015 Paris Senior Women’s Sabre B
IWAS Grand Prix
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Montreal Women’s Foil

Personal change

Khersuriani is from Abkhazia and lived in Ochamchire until she was 7 years old. Her family left Abkhazia during the 2008 South Ossetia war.[1] Following the war in the region, she lived in Kutaisi and Tskhaltubo.[2] She started the University of Kutaisi when she was 17 years old. She studied English and computers.[1] She got spinal disease when she was 20 years old and became disabled.[1][2][3][4][5] Because of this, she quit university to fix her health problems.[1][4][5][6]

Khersuriani works for the Georgian Paralympic Committee as an office manager. A friend from Tiblisi found the job for her. Her mother did not want her to take the job and move away from them to Tiblisi.[1][2]

One of Khersuriani's hobbies is dancing. Because not many people in Tiblisi do this, people stare.[7] One of Khersuriani's best friend is another wheelchair fencer from Georgia, Temo Dadiani also from Abkhazia. The friends met at a rehabilitation center in Ukraine.[7]

Khersuriani helps disability sport in Georgia, talking to the government and asking them to give more money for sports in 2015.[5] She has also helped to improve the lives of people with disabilities in Georgian, including being part of a Persons With Disabilities Day in 2013, and participating in events with the United Nations.[8][9][10][11][12]

Wheelchair fencing change

Khersuriani is a wheelchair fencer.[13][14] She is the first female wheelchair fencer in Georgia.[3][15][16] She trains each data with five men who make up are also members of the Georgia national wheelchair fencing team.[4] She was ranked for the first time as one of the best fencers in the world after having played the sport for eight months.[17] She is coached by Malkhaz Meskhi (Georgian:  მალხაზ მესხმა).[1]

Khersuriani first tried the fencing when people at the Georgian Paralympic Committee asked her to.[3] before this, she had only watched a few movies that had fencing in them. Her first experience with the sport was bad, and she cried during the it. It was hard for her, and she continued with the sport when she wanted to quit mostly because of her coach.[1]

At the 2014 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in Germany, she finished fifth.[18][19] At the  2014 Montreal Grand Prix, Khersuriani won a bronze medal in the women’s foil.[18][19] She won a bronze medal match after losing to Germany's Simone Briese-Baetke in the semi-final.[20][21] Competing in the Category B women’s epee at the same competition, she lost to Ellen Geddes of the United States 9 - 15 in the quarterfinals. Khersuriani finished fifth.[22] At the November 2014 Polish Wheelchair Fencing Open, she won a two medals, a bronze in the Foil, and a silver in the Sabre.[21][23]

At a 2015 World Cup event in Pisa, Italy, Khersuriani finished ninth.[24] She lost in the group stage and did not go further in the competition. One of her losses was to Hong Kong's Zhongwan Ping by a score of 15 - 7.[1][25] At the 2015 IWAS World Championships in Eger, Hungary in August, she won a silver medal in the women’s sabre B.[3][5][15][16][18][26][27] She lost to Ukraine's Tetiana Pozdniak by a score of 13-15 in the gold medal match. She made the final after beating Poland's Patrycja Hareza.[18][28][29] After Hungary, she was ranked as the best wheelchair fencer in the world for the first time.[30][31][32] In October 2015, she won gold at a World Cup in Paris in the Senior Women’s Sabre B event after beating Patrycja Hareza of Poland in the final by a score of 15 - 9. In making the finals, she beat wheelchair fencers from France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Poland and Ukraine.[3][5][15][16][19][33] Unlike most competitors at the competition, she competed in all three wheelchair fencing disciplines: Sabre, Foil and Épée.[3][16]

References change

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "წლის ადამიანები: პირველ ადგილზე სტიქიის სალიკვიდაციო სამუშაოების მოხალისეები დასახელდნენ". Post Alioni (in Georgian). postalioni. 29 December 2015. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "ირმა ხეცურიანი წლის საუკეთესო პარასპორტსმენი ქალი გახდა". press.ge (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Georgian wheelchair fencer wins gold in World Cup competition". agenda.ge. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "მე ვარ ქალი". UNDP საქართველოში (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "პარაოლიმპიელი ირმა ხეცურიანი: ასეთი უშუალო დამოკიდებულება, რა თქმა უნდა, მნიშვნელოვანია". INFO9 (in Georgian). Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  6. "reportiori.ge - ირაკლი ღარიბაშვილი ქართველ მორაგბეებს, მოჭადრაკე ქალებს, მოჭიდავეებსა და ძიუდოისტებს მადლობას უხდის". www.reportiori.ge (in Georgian). Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  7. 7.0 7.1 "The Invisible Wall The Black Sea". www.theblacksea.eu. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
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  9. "ახალგაზრდობა - სპორტის და ახალგაზრდობის საქმეთა სამინისტრო". msy.gov.ge (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  10. "გაეროს ბავშვთა უფლებების კონვენციის დღესთან დაკავშირებით, სპეციალური ბროშურა გამოიცა". www1.accent.com.ge (in Georgian). Retrieved 2016-01-15.
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  12. "წიგნისა და საავტორო უფლებების დაცვის საერთაშორისო დღე". მომავალიTV (in Georgian). Retrieved 2016-01-15.[permanent dead link]
  13. "Wrestler Khinchagashvili named Georgia's sportsperson of the year". agenda.ge. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  14. "Vladimir Khinchegashvili named best athlete of Georgia". Vestnik Kavkaza. 7 January 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
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  16. 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 "Georgian Fencer Wins Gold Medal at World Cup Competition". Georgia Today on the Web. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  17. "„შეზღუდული უნარები არ არსებობს, შეზღუდულია თვითონ გარემო"". www.gurianews.com (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 2015-07-03. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 "Georgian female fencer takes World Championship silver". agenda.ge. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Georgian Female Fencer Takes World Championship Gold - CBW.ge". CBW.ge. Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  20. "Gold-Simone nicht zu bremsen | RehaTreff Online". www.rehatreff.de (in German). Archived from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
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  22. "Ellen Geddes Wins Epee Bronze at Montreal Wheelchair World Cup". USA Fencing. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  23. "ირმა ხეცურიანი  » ACCEPT! Sports". sports.accept.ge (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 17 September 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  24. "World Cup Wheelchair Fencing Competition, city of Pisa, Italy 19-26 May, 2015". tbparasport.org. parasport devlopment centre of tbilisi. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  25. "港輪椅劍擊隊世盃首日奪1金2銀1銅 - 體路 Sportsroad". 體路 Sportsroad (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  26. "Xu Feng Zou collects second gold at Wheelchair Fencing World Championships". www.insidethegames.biz. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  27. "პარაოლიმპიელთა მსოფლიოს ჩემპიონატის ვერცხლის მედლის მფლობელი, მოფარიკავე ირმა ხეცურიანი სხვა შუადღეში | ვიდეო | Rustavi2". Rustavi2 (in Georgian). Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  28. "Zou stuns again with second world title". www.paralympic.org. International Paralympic Committee. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
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  30. "ირმა ხეცურიანი ეტლით ფარიკაობის მსოფლიო რეიტინგში პირველ ადგილზეა [ვიდეო]". GOODNEWS.GE (in Georgian). Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  31. "შშმ სპორტსმენების წარმატებები". www.tvpirveli.ge (in Georgian). Retrieved 2016-01-15.[permanent dead link]
  32. "ქართველი სპორტსმენი ეტლით ფარიკაობის მსოფლიო რეიტინგში პირველ ადგილზე დაწინაურდა". Presa.ge (in Georgian). Retrieved 2016-01-15.
  33. "პარამოფარიკავე ირმა ხეცურიანმა ოქროს მედალი მოიპოვა". კარგი ამბების სააგენტო (in Georgian). 23 October 2015. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.