PADUA, Italy, Feb. 2-4, 2018 – USA fencer Eli Dershwitz won gold this weekend in Padua, Italy, at the Trophee Luxardo Men’s Sabre World Cup. The Korean men’s sabre team also took gold at the event, which took place at the historic city’s Kioene Arena. More than 200 fencers participated in the competition, along with more than 20 international teams.
Dershwitz defeated Hungarian two-time Olympic champion Aron Szilagyi in the final match, 15-12, to win the Trophee Luxardo. The American beat Italian Luca Curatoli in the semi-final, 15-13, while Szilagyi took out his teammate and World Champion, Andras Szatmari, in the same round, 15-11. Dershwitz also beat top-ranked Korean sabre fencer Bongil Gu in the quarter-finals, 15-4.
In the men’s team sabre event, Korea prevailed against home-team Italy, 45-33. In the semi-finals, Korea achieved the same score against USA, 45-33, while Italy overcame Hungary, 45-40. In the battle for the bronze medal, Hungary took the honours against USA, 45-34.
The top-eight overall individual men’s sabre ranking from the Padua World Cup include Eli Dershwitz (USA, gold), Aron Szilagyi (HUN, silver), Luca Curatoli (ITA, bronze), Andras Szatmari (HUN, bronze), Bongil Gu (KOR), Sanguk Oh (KOR), Andriy Yagodka (UKR), and Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS).
The top-eight men’s sabre team rankings place Korea (gold) first, followed by Italy (silver), Hungary (bronze), USA, Russia, Iran, Germany, and Romania.
Full results for the individual competition can be found here, and results for the team event are here.