Hungary’s Andras Redli and Team Russia win gold at Men’s Epee World Cup in Legnano

World Championship bronze medallist Redli came up against his teammate, Daniel Berta, in the Final and eased to a comfortable victory in their gold medal decider. Russia were also amongst the gold medals as they beat the hosts, Italy, in the men’s team event.

Nearly 300 epeeists competed in the individual men’s event at the Palazzetto dello Sport di Castellanza which saw Redli beat Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Kurbanov by a single point, 13-12, in the semi-finals.

Berta’s route to the Final was an epic struggle, beating Olympic gold medallist Sangyoung Park of Korea 14-11 in the round of 16, two-time World Champion Paolo Pizzo of Italy 15-13, in the quarter-finals, before enjoying a slightly more comfortable victory over Swiss epee champion Max Heinzer in the semi-final, by 15 touches to 7.

The all-Hungarian Final then saw Redli outclass Berta, winning what was a second World Cup gold thanks to a resounding 15-6 score. Silver for Berta did have the consolation of being a career-best medal performance.

Nearly 30 countries took part in the men’s team epee competition, which boiled down to Russia facing hosts, Italy. In what was an absorbing Final, the Russian’s overcame stiff resistance from the Italians, who were understandably backed by a vocal home support, to win 45-35.

This came after Italy narrowly edged-out France in the semi-final, 44-43, while Russia also had a close encounter, sneaking past Korea, 45-43.

Korea took the bronze medal over France with in yet another close match, winning 43-42.

There was also FIE World Cup action in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium, where Ukraine’s Olga Kharlan and Team Italy emerged victorious.
Three-time World Champion Kharlan defeated Italy’s Rossella Gregorio to take the individual women’s sabre competition, whilst Italy overcame France in the final of the women’s team competition.

The Sportcentrum De Witte Molen in Sint-Niklaas was the venue for the SGK Ladies Sabre World Cup where a field of more than 160 women lined up bidding for success.

After an intense competition, Kharlan came up against Gregorio in the Final, with the latter looking to add to the gold she won last month at the women’s sabre World Cup in Orleans, France.

However Kharlan had other ideas and took gold thanks to an excellent 15-6 victory.

Earlier, the winner had eased past Russian Olympic gold medallist, Yana Egorian, 15-5, in the semi-finals, which was in stark contrast to Gregorio who had to call on all her reserves before defeating her teammate, Irene Vecchi, in the semi-finals, 15-13.

There was some consolation for both Gregorio and Vecchi as they were part of the Italian women’s sabre team which took gold in the team event.

A total of 19 countries from around the world had teams participating and it was the Italians who ultimately proved dominant, overcoming France in the final, 45-40.

To get there Italy beat Russia, 45-38 in the semi-final, while the French women defeated Korea, 45-41; Korea then taking the bronze medal over Russia, 45-34.