The national team took home a total of five medals.Continue reading
The Hungarian sabre fencing team won the silver medal at the women’s World Cup in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. In women’s sabre, this event marked the end of the one-year Olympic qualification period.
Defending world champions Anna Márton, Liza Pusztai, Sugár Battai, and Luca Szűcs joined the competition in the last 16 on Sunday, beating Germany 45-30, followed by Italy 45-41 in the last eight, and South Korea 45-42 for the final. In the final, Hungary faced France, whom they have beaten in the last two World Cup finals. This time the opponents won 45-32.
The Hungarian women’s team had already secured their Olympic participation, but it was important to maintain their second place in the rankings. This is the basis on which the teams are paired at the summer games, and it makes a difference how strong the opponents are in the quarter-finals.
The team quota also guarantees three individual places.
“I am proud of the girls. Today’s silver medal is also a great achievement, but it is even more so that we have been on the podium five times out of seven events in the qualification series, and once on top of the World Cup podium,” head coach Gábor Gárdos told hunfencing.hu. “Today’s competition proved to me what the previous ones have already proven: this quartet can be successful in any line-up, the girls can always count on each other.”
The individual competition at the World Cup in Belgium, however, did not bring any outstanding Hungarian results: Anna Márton and Liza Pusztai went furthest, both finishing in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Via MTI, Featured image: Facebook/Hungarian Fencing Federation / Magyar Vívó Szövetség