The men's epée team faced Japan in the final, just as they did in the Paris Olympics.Continue reading
After the Olympics in Paris and the Berne World Cup, the Hungarian men’s epée team won a gold medal at the World Cup in Vancouver, Canada, the Hungarian Fencing Federation reported on its website.
After the season-opening World Cup in Bern, the Hungarian team had to compete in a different line-up from the Olympic squad once again in Vancouver yesterday, but that did not stop them from reaching the top step of the podium. At the Summer Games, Gergely Siklósi, Máté Koch, Tibor Andrásfi and Dávid Nagy competed, while two weeks ago, at the Swiss event, Gergely Kovács and Zsombor Keszthelyi fenced alongside Andrásfi, who finished fourth in the individual event in Paris, and Koch, 2023 world champion.
The winning line-up in Switzerland had to be changed this time due to Zsombor Keszthelyi’s illness. However, the team with Maruán Osman-Touson was also unbeatable.
After a confident 42:33 win over the Poles, the quarter-finals came against Ukraine, who were a very difficult opponent. Everyone on the Hungarian side contributed to the 35:34 overtime victory, but special mention should go to Gergely Kovács, who was put in the finishing position by coach Tamás Dancsházy-Nagy, and the young fencer managed the task perfectly.
The quartet then had to defeat France and then Japan on the way to the gold medal, just as they did at the Olympics and then in Bern.
Against the French, Koch, who had been in faded form but fought superbly, produced his best performance of the day, but it took Andrásfi’s stability throughout to win 39:35. In the final, the Japanese team, featuring Olympic individual champion Koki Kano, might have thought they would win the match, but young Gergely Kovács surprised them with his dazzling performance. The final ended 45:31, and with that the Hungarian epée team’s dazzling 2024 season ended with another gold.
After the final, Tamás Dancsházy-Nagy, the Hungarian team’s coach, commented on the victory:
Of course I am very happy that we managed to win gold after another change. Zsombor’s withdrawal, of course, changed the planned tactics again, but Gergely Kovács did a brilliant job as the finishing man.
This success is also extremely valuable because, apart from him, Tibor and Máté were not in top form, but they did what was needed to win the gold medal. This week is a rest period, but the year is not over, the national championships are an important task for everyone. Then next year Gergely Siklósi will be back, followed by Dávid Nagy, and I believe that the healthy rivalry that will develop is one of the guarantees that we will have something to look forward to in 2025.”
Via hunfencing.hu, Featured image: MTI/Illyés Tibor