Men’s Sabre Team Wins European Championship Title

The Hungarian men’s sabre team won the gold medal at the European Fencing Championships in Basel on Sunday.

The sabre team of Áron Szilágyi, Csanád Gémesi, Krisztián Rabb, Tamás Decsi faced Romania for the gold medal in the last final of the European Championships. Three-time Olympic champion Szilágyi started but could not find the rhythm against Razvan Ursachi. However, Rabb immediately improved his team’s position from 3-5 with a 7-1 win over Radu Nitu. Gémesi followed with Vlad Covaliu and the young Romanian surprised his opponent several times. The Hungarian swordsman lost 8-5, but his team still led by one touch after the first round.

In the second round, Rabb was again successful, beating Ursachi 5-2, then Szilágyi beat Covaliu by the same margin, but Gémesi again had difficulties, struggling with distance against Nitu. The third round started from 30-27, but Rabb against Covaliu immediately restored the difference with a 5-1. Gémesi again had to work hard but the match ended in a 5-5 draw. In the final clash, Szilágyi, stuck at the end of the piste at 44-40, finished the match with a brilliant save against Nitu.

Head coach András Decsi told M4 Sport‘s on-site crew that he was fully satisfied with the performance and the result. In connection with the Olympics, he said that this European Championship was “first and foremost a confidence booster” because they had not met a team they would face at the Olympic Games.

“It was a great experience to fence with the team, I was able to stay very calm in the final and I did not think about the fact that I was playing a European final, but always about the fact that I was going to give the next shot,” said Rabb, and Szilágyi reminded that they will not have much time to celebrate, as they will be back in training soon.

“We are still having moments of celebration, but in two days we are off to a training camp in Austria and then we will be preparing for the Paris Olympics, therefore we will not have much time to celebrate this victory.

It is a good omen for the Olympics, but we have a more important task in five weeks’ time,”

stressed the three-time Olympic champion fencer.

Before that, Hungarian men’s sabre team had won the continental championships in 2022, and their triumph on Sunday meant the seventh medal for the delegation at the European Championships in Switzerland. As reported by Hungary Today, Gergely Siklósi and Liza Pusztai finished second, and Tibor Andrásfi finished third in the individual event.

In the team event, not only the men’s sabre fencers excelled. The men’s foil team won silver medal, a feat not seen for 21 years.

On Friday, the women’s épée team also excelled, winning the silver medal. On the final day, the women’s sabre team finished third.

The Hungarian delegation finished the European Championships with one gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

Via MTI, Featured image: Photo: Facebook/Hungarian Fencing Federation / Magyar Vívó Szövetség / Eva Pavía