SINT-NIKLAAS, Belgium, March 17-19, 2023—France’s Sara Balzer won the individual gold medal at the Sint-Niklaas Women’s Sabre World Cup and Korea won the team gold. The event took place at the Sports Centre De Witte Molen, with 183 individual fencers and 27 teams participating in the competition.
Balzer faced China’s Yaqi Shao in the final bout of the individual women’s sabre event, winning with a 15-13 score. In the semifinal round, Shao won against Greece’s Theodora Gkountoura, 15-8, while Balzer defeated Italy’s Rossella Gregorio, 15-9. Of note, Hungary’s Anna Marton beat Ukraine’s four-time world champion Olga Kharlan in the round of 16, 15-14, before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Shao, 15-14. Shao also defeated Japan’s world champion Misaki Emura in the round of 16, 15-13.
In the women’s team sabre event, Korea won against Italy in the final match, 45-42. In the semifinals, Italy defeated Ukraine, 45-43, while Korea beat Hungary, 45-44. The bronze medal went to Ukraine over Hungary, 45-41.
Final rankings in women’s individual sabre included Sara Balzer (FRA, gold), Yaqi Shao (CHN, silver), Theodora Gkountoura (GRE, bronze), Rossella Gregorio (ITA, bronze), Despina Georgiadou (GRE), Lucia Martin-Portugues (ESP), Elizabeth Tartakovsky (USA) and Anna Marton (HUN).
Final rankings in women’s team sabre included Korea (gold), Italy (silver), Ukraine (bronze), Hungary, Spain, Greece, Bulgaria and Germany.
Complete and official results for the event may be found here on the FIE web site. For more exciting world fencing news and features, check out the YouTube FIE Fencing Channel.