MADRID, Spain, May 12-14, 2023—Georgia’s Sandro Bazadze won the individual men’s sabre medal at the “Villa de Madrid” Men’s Sabre World Cup and Hungary won the team gold. The event took place at the Polideportivo Municipal Gallur, with 237 individual fencers and 29 teams participating in the competition.
Bazadze faced Italy’s Riccardo Nuccio in the final bout of the men’s individual sabre event, winning with a 15-6 score. In the semifinal round, Nuccio won against teammate Enrico Berre’, 15-6, while Bazadze defeated France’s Maxime Pianfetti, 15-11. Of note, in the quarterfinals, Pianfetti beat Hungary’s world champion Andras Szatmari, 15-10. In the table of 16, Szatmari defeated Korea’s world champion Sanguk Oh, 15-14, and Iran’s Ali Pakdaman won against Hungary’s world and three-time Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi, 15-14, before being eliminated in the quarterfinals by Nuccio, 15-14.
In the men’s team sabre event, Hungary defeated USA in the final match, 45-42. In the semifinals, USA won against Iran, 45-24, while Hungary beat Italy, 45-40. The bronze medal went to Iran over Italy, 45-37.
Final rankings in men’s individual sabre included Sandro Bazadze (GEO, gold), Riccardo Nuccio (ITA, silver), Enrico Berre’ (ITA, bronze), Maxime Pianfetti (FRA, bronze), Bolade Apithy (FRA), Andras Szatmari (HUN), Ali Pakdaman (IRI) and Junho Kim (KOR).
Final rankings in men’s team sabre included Hungary (gold), USA (silver), Iran (bronze), Italy, France, Germany, Georgia and Japan.
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.