BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, October 7, 2018—On the first day of fencing at the third Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, youth fencers from Japan and Hungary took gold in individual women’s foil and men’s sabre. IOC President Thomas Bach visited the fencing event, taking place in the YOG Africa Pavilion.
On-hand to welcome Mr. Bach were Canadian epee team member Ariane Leonard and International Fencing Federation (FIE) Secretary-General Emmanuel Katsiadakis. Yusra Mardini, refugee swimming team member from Rio 2016 and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, accompanied Mr. Bach. Fencing Athlete Role Models Daryl Homer (USA) and Maria Belen Perez Maurice (ARG) were also on-hand to introduce the event. Mr. Bach, himself an Olympic fencing gold medallist, participated in a fencing initiation program and watched the semi-finals of women’s foil and men’s sabre.
Top-seeded Japan’s Yuka Ueno overtook Italy’s Martina Favaretto in the gold-medal match of women’s foil, 15-12. Favaretto beat USA’s May Tieu in the semi-final round, 15-5, while Ueno defeated Venezuela’s Anabella Acurero Gonzalez, 8-4. The bronze medal went to went to Tieu by a narrow margin, 8-7.
In men’s sabre, Hungary’s Krisztian Rabb, seeded third entering the competition, took gold over Korea’s Jun Hyun, 15-13. Hyun beat USA’s Robert Vidovszky in the semi-final by a singe touch, 15-14, while Rabb overtook Egypt’s Mazen Elaraby, 15-6. In the bronze-medal round, Elaraby was victorious over Vidovszky, 15-10.
The top-eight finishers in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games women’s individual foil event included Yuka Ueno (JPN, gold), Martina Favaretto (ITA, silver), May Tieu (USA, bronze), Anabella Acurero Gonzalez (VEN), Jane Caulfield (CAN), Yingying Fu (CHN), Christelle Joy Ko (HKG) and Noha Hany (EGY).
Top-eight winners in men’s individual sabre at the Youth Olympic Games included Krisztian Rabb (HUN, gold), Jun Hyun (KOR, silver), Mazen Elaraby (EGY, bronze), Robert Vidovszky (USA), Samuel Jarry (FRA), Alonso Santamaria (ESP), Antonio Heathcock (GER) and Hibiki Kato (JPN).
Men’s and women’s individual epee will take place on October 8.
Full reports for fencing competition at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games may be found here.