BATUMI, Georgia, May 12-14, 2023—France’s Sara Balzer won the individual sabre gold medal at the Batumi Women’s Sabre World Cup and Ukraine won the team gold. The event included 176 individual fencers and 26 teams.
Balzer faced teammate Caroline Queroli in the final bout of the women’s individual sabre event, winning with a 15-10 score. In the semifinal round, Queroli won against Italy’s Chiara Mormile, 15-2, while Balzer defeated Hungary’s Anna Marton, 15-14. Of note, Marton beat Ukrainian four-time world champion Olga Kharlan in the quarterfinals, 15-5, and Japan’s world champion Misaki Emura in the table of 16, 15-10.
In the women’s team sabre event, Ukraine won against USA in the final match, 45-42. In the semifinals, USA defeated Spain, 45-44, while Ukraine beat Italy, 45-36. The bronze medal went to Spain over Italy, 45-42.
Final rankings in women’s individual sabre included Sara Balzer (FRA, gold), Caroline Queroli (FRA, silver), Anna Marton (HUN, bronze), Chiara Mormile (ITA, bronze), Lucia Martin-Portugues (ESP), Olga Kharlan (UKR), Araceli Navarro (ESP) and Yaqi Shao (CHN).
Final rankings in women’s team sabre included Ukraine (gold), USA (silver), Spain (bronze), Italy, Japan, Korea, Hungary and Azerbaijan.
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.