PLOVDIV, Bulgaria, April 9, 2023—Egypt and Poland won the gold medals in men’s and women’s junior team epee at the 2023 Plovdiv Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships. Today’s competitions, on the final and ninth day of 18 individual and team events taking place from April 1 to 9, included 48 men’s and 36 women’s teams and took place at the Plovdiv International Fair.
A closing ceremony was held to officially close the Championships, with FIE Interim President Emmanuel Katsiadakis delivering a speech and declaring the event “a great success”. The FIE flag was passed from Bulgarian Fencing Federation President Ms. Velichka Hristeva to Mr. Abdullah Alsunaid, Secretary-General of the Saudi Arabia Fencing Federation, which will host the 2024 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships. Also in attendance at the ceremony was Mr. Georgi Tityukov, Plovdiv Deputy Mayor of Sport, Youth and Social Activities.
Egypt faced Switzerland in the final match of junior men’s team epee, winning with a 45-43 score. Switzerland won against USA in the semifinal round, 45-41, while Egypt defeated Hungary, 45-34. The bronze medal went to Hungary over USA, 45-27.
“So special, so amazing, we worked so hard for this”, said Egypt’s Mohamed Elsayed. “Two years in a row, we’ve won this. Today the competition was not easy. I’m so proud of my dad, my team and my coach, my family, thank you to all, I love all of you. We showed who has the strongest mentality. I’m so happy!”
Poland faced USA in the final match of junior women’s team epee, winning with a 45-38 score. USA won against China in the semifinal round, 45-32, while Poland defeated France, 35-31. The bronze medal went to China over France, 45-32.
“My teammates and I are feeling the most amazing ever, because we just won the World Championships”, said Poland’s Cecylia Cieslik. “Today was really hard, our most difficult match was against Ukraine and we were really exhausted. Our morale was low, but we tried the best we could and we won.”
Final rankings in junior men’s team epee included Egypt (gold), Switzerland (silver), Hungary (bronze), USA, Israel, Italy, Estonia and Korea.
Final rankings in junior women’s team epee included Poland (gold), USA (silver), China (bronze), France, Italy, Ukraine, Israel and Uzbekistan.
Complete and official results for the event may be found on the FIE website. For more exciting world fencing news and features, check out the YouTube FIE Fencing Channel.
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