World’s best sabre fencers heading to Moscow for FIE Grand Prix

Over 300 sabre fencers from all corners of the globe will head to the Russian capital where the VTB Ice Palace, aptly named the ”Arena of Legends”, will play host to the three-day tournament from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 May.

The men’s individual event will see all of the current top 10 ranked sabre fencers in action, led by world number one, Bongil Gu of Korea. Gu will be hoping for an improvement to his last Grand Prix performance where he was surprisingly beaten by Italy’s Stefano Scepi, ranked 63 in the world, in the round of 32 stage of the SK Telecom Sabre Grand Prix in Seoul, Korea. That shock defeat opened the door for world number two, Aron Szilagyi of Hungary, to steal the show which he duly accepted, beating Junghwan Kim, ranked ten in the world, to take gold.

This weekend’s men’s competition in Moscow promises to be equally as exciting and enthralling with the likes of Elia Dershwitz of the USA (ranked three), Andras Szarmari of Hungary (four) and Luca Curatoli of Italy (five) all also determined to make their mark on proceedings. They will be joined by Sanghuk Oh of Korea (ranked six), Max Hartung of Germany (seven), Kamil Ibragimov of Russia (eight) and Vincent Ansett of France (nine), making the task of predicting a winner no mean feat. However form could point to Szilagyi’s success in Korea, along with similar for Dershwitz which came back in February in the FIE World Cup sabre event held in Padua, Italy.

If a winner of the men’s competition is too close to call, the women’s individual competition is just as wide open especially with the absence of world number one, Olga Kharlan of Ukraine. Kharlan earned gold in the women’s individual competition at the aforementioned SK Telecom Sabre Grand Prix in Seoul but is not due to compete in Moscow. That provides the opportunity for someone else to steal the limelight and the remaining nine of the top ten women’s sabre fencers will be fighting in earnest to take gold.

Rossella Gregorio of Italy, the world number two, will be many people’s favourite, but the likes of Anna Marton of Hungary (ranked three), Bianca Pascu of Romania (four) and the French trio of Cecilia Berder, Charlotte Lembach and Manon Brunet (ranked five, six and seven respectively) could well have a say in the outcome of where the gold medal ends up.

The weekend’s action in Moscow kicks off with the round of pools, and preliminary round up to last 64 knockout rounds in the men’s competition on Friday (11 May). The same stages of the women’s competition kick off the action on Saturday (12 May), along with the men’s competition which draws to a conclusion with the direct elimination rounds and Final. Sunday (13 May) sees the closing stages of the women’s competition with their elimination rounds and Final.

The Moscow Sabre Grand Prix is the first of three International Fencing Federation (FIE) Grand Prix events to be held in May, all part of the nine-city series for the 2017-2018 season.

Shanghai, China will host the men’s and women’s foil competitions from 18 to 20 May, before Cali, Colombia, will be the venue for men’s and women’s epee event from 25 to 27 May.