"Cairo 2022 Fencing World Championships [FINAL] Hungary v Korea | Men's Sabre Team 펜싱 남자 사브르 세계선수권대회

So time for the Men's Team Sabre gold medal match here at the World Fencing Championships in Cairo. And it's a grudge match between the Hungarians and the Koreans, a repeat of the 2019 final in Budapest, where it was the Koreans that edged out the home favourites. So here are the team from Hungary. Sano Gimesi, Andras Satmari, the triple Olympic champion, Aron Szilagyi, Tamas Desi, part of that team from Hungary that won the World Championships back in 2007. And from Korea, Kim Jong-Hyu and Kim Joon-Wang. So we've got the two Kims, Kim Jong-Hyu and Kim Joon-Wang, our referees, Vasa Malenchev, Vanessa Chichon, Hasada Kenshi from Japan, and Adriana Atacoen from Argentina. So as Hungary go into this huddle back in 2007 in St. Petersburg was the last time they won this World Championship team gold. And Tamas Desi and Aron Szilagyi were part of that team, while the Koreans, well, they're looking to make it four in a row. Gold in Leipzig 2017, gold in Wushu 2018, gold in Budapest 2019. They've not had a World Championship since then. Can the Koreans forepeat the confirmation of the Hungarian team? And they've lined up. Aron Szilagyi is their anchor, but they are on the side of the draw, one, two and three, where Szilagyi will go first and last. Oh Sang-Guk, the anchor for Korea, and he will go second and sixth. So starting things off, it's Aron Szilagyi, the newly crowned world champion, world ranked number one, 32 years old. And he is up against Kim Joon-Ho, the younger of the two Kims, Kim Joon-Ho, 28 years old. We've got Kim Joon-Hwang, who's 38, and we're off and we're underway. If you're new to sabre, if you're watching perhaps on the Olympic channel and you're just tuning in to fencing, then sabre is the fastest of all the weapons. Ignore the time. First fencer to get to five or increments of five, they'll switch over. We have nine legs in this contest, 45 is the target score. It's a cutting weapon. The whole of the upper body, including the head, is the target, and it's a weapon of convention, which means the referee needs to decide who the attacking fencer was in the final phase. And if you're being attacked, you've got a couple of options. One is that you back off and you defeat the attack through distance. Two is that you parry, which is what Kim Joon-Ho did there. Actually, it was a counter parry. And as soon as you parry, it becomes the right of way changes. There is a third option where you can counter, where you hit when it's not your turn to hit. And as long as there's only one light on the box, then the referee can only give it one way. So we might see a few stop cuts. It's unusual. And Kim Joon-Ho has got off to a good start here. Oh, Selegi going a little early. So called simultaneous, that's the first simultaneous action that we've seen. Referee can't decide. That time Selegi backing off, letting Kim's attack fail and then getting the parry riposte. Aaron Selegi is the master of the parry riposte. So the next score will see us through to leg two. First attack from Kim fails. Selegi picks up the right of way and the score sits at 5-4. Kim Joon-Ho has asked for the referee to have a look at the video. It is Vanessa Chicon of Spain and the score stands. So 5-4, nothing in it. And coming on for Korea will be Oh Sang-guk, world number three. And for Hungary, Sanna Gomesi, world record number 18, 35 years old. Hungarians have a very experienced team. Gomesi still doing a little bit of a warm up. Gomesi off out of the blocks. Oh Sang-guk getting that point. Attack from the left, Gomesi. Now, sabre is often described as a game of paper, scissors, stone, but there's a little bit more to the tactics than that. It's kind of, you've got three options. They call it the three Ps. You can either predict what your opponent's going to do, which is just like doing paper, scissors, stone. You just roll the dice and you try and second guess what your opponent's doing. The second option is that you can try and persuade your opponent to do something that they don't necessarily want to do, fake them out. And the third option is you can fence eyes open and perceive what your opponent's doing and then make a small step to start looking, looking, looking, which is exactly what Sanna Gomesi did there. Looking to see what Oh Sang-guk was doing. Well, Oh Sang-guk just looked to his box there to confirm that he could ask for a video. We need to see that Vasyl Malenchev, very experienced referee, is on the video and hit stands. One more for Hungary and they will reach their target of 10. Gomesi, oh lovely, lovely counter. So now when you're being pushed back on the piece like that, Gomesi's got the right of way attacking, but Oh Sang-guk stays tight, stays tight and then just hits with that stop cut and gets out of the way. One light on the box. Oh, and again, great defence from Oh Sang-guk. That time he backed off and did a kind of block, a parry riposte onto the attack. And Oh Sang-guk, three quick points in succession and it's Korea that make it to the target of 10. So coming on for Hungary, it is Andras Szatmari. Szatmari, world number 12, 29 years old. And for Korea, it is Gu Bongil, world rank 9, 33 years old. Vasyl Malenchev taking over the referee duties. Switch every two. So preparation called. So Gu just bringing his arm back as he was going forward. He brought his sword arm back, which opened the right of way to Szatmari. Oh, Szatmari, yeah, got caught in two minds there. Indecision from the Hungarian. That time Szatmari using distance well, but couldn't finish the attack. Now it's Gu's attack. Oh, Szatmari's on his back, tripped over, couldn't defend himself. Vasyl Malenchev calls halt and they'll reset where they were on the piste. So Szatmari is going to be right on the back line. Just checking he's OK now. The reserve for Team Hungary is Tamás Desi. And Desi hasn't fenced in any of the matches so far. He's 39 years old. He's still fencing individually, but he hasn't actually paid any part so far. First attack failed and Szatmari picked up the right of way. And Mr. Gu is just being asked to stay on the piste. Well, Vasyl Malenchev has a look at that. Now in sabre, if your foot lands, if your front foot lands, then the attack is deemed to be over. So you have to make sure that you've hit before that front foot comes down onto the piste. Szatmari backing off, parried. Oh, lovely, lovely cut to the belly of Gu. 12 apiece. This is going to stay tight all the way through. When they go into the middle like that, it's tricky. Vasyl Malenchev being asked to look at the video review. But Malenchev, he's got a great eye. He's never normally wrong, but he will change his mind if he perceives it. Oh, now. No, yellow card for Gu for not starting. It wasn't that Szatmari went early. Gu backed away. Yellow card. Oh, now he's early. Now, red card. Oh, no, that was Szatmari's problem. So they both got yellow cards. Both did the same thing. Just a little bit of gamesmanship on the line there. 13 apiece. Gu attacking, looking for the clean line through. Finds it. Szatmari desperately trying to work out where the attack is going to come in from. Gu just a little quicker there and gets the Korean team to the target score of 15. Now that's the first third done. And we'll go into the second rotation. So fences that we've already seen. And Tsanagameshi is coming on. Well, he fenced Osanguk in leg two. Lost that one, 6-4. And Kim Jun-ho is coming on for Korea. Well, he also lost against Szilagyi, 5-4. So just looking, Tsanagameshi came in looking for Kim's blade. The Hungarians, they can't let the Koreans get too far ahead here. Well, a few years ago, Korea really dismantled the sport of sabre and then rebuilt it in their own image, made it much more athletic. Introduced the Korean hop, which we saw from Kim Jun-ho on the previous point. And a card for Tsanagameshi for not starting. He's getting the score right. Tsanagameshi backing off, searching for the para-repose, couldn't find it. It was a reprise of the attack there from Kim. And Tsanagameshi just attacked into the guard of Kim, which kind of automatically reverts to being a para-repose. And a good leg, very good leg from Kim Jun-ho. A very poor leg there from Tsanagameshi, 5-1. The score in the fourth and Korea lead by 20-14. Szalagi's coming on for Hungary against Bubongil. So Gu won his first match against Satmari 5-4. Szalagi won his first 5-4. So they're both one point up on their, they've both scored one more than they've had scored against them. Now, if you were watching the Epee earlier, you saw the Koreans take a massive lead over the Italians. The Italians took a long time to come back and it looked like they were going to come back, but then they didn't in the end. But in Sabre, it is possible to make a big turnaround. Just needs one really on form fencer and you can score 14-15. I mean, the record is over 20 hits in a team competition. Of course, you need to be trailing by that amount in order to be able to have the room on the scoreboard to score the hits. If you're leading like the Koreans and you can only score five. Szalagi's got two already. Now, is this the catch up leg for Hungary? Oh, that is beautiful from Aaron Szalagi, the master of the parry riposte. He went in there, eyes open, looking for it. Now, who started the attack first? It was attack left, Aaron Szalagi. And four unanswered points. Szalagi, if he's on a roll now, could go all the way up to 25. Szalagi pressing forward. Is he going to finish? No, he's not. Gu's turn to attack. Szalagi backing off, keeping it tight. But Gu can finish. That's very unusual to see Szalagi push someone right the way to the back of the piece and not finish. You're looking at 90% hit rate from both Szalagi and from Osanguk. They're both brilliant at that long attack. I think Szalagi just got his foot stamped on there, unintentionally, of course. Preparation called. Yeah, right on the toe. But the Sabreurs are made of tough stuff. And we're going to get the cooling spray. I'm just going to go straight through the top of the shoe. I don't think this injury will take too long. He's not taking his shoe off. Just treating it straight through the shoe. There is Gu Bongil. Now, Szalagi started this leg really well. He's caught up. He's caught up a couple. But Gu was more in the ascendancy of the last couple of points. Well, Szalagi had a couple of looks there for the parry. Couldn't find it. That time he does. And Szalagi's already scored five. It's 5-3 in this fifth leg. So any points that Szalagi scores from now on will be catch-up points. Oh, parried again from Aaron Szalagi. 25 the target. Oh, well, I thought that was going to be called simultaneous for a second, but the referee, Vanessa Chijon from Spain, has been asked to have a look at the video by Gu Bongil. Vaso Malenchev there. And has changed her decision. Thumbs up from Gu. So simultaneous called. Gu just needs one more to see it through to the sixth. And gets it with a parry riposte. And Szalagi, well, he started that leg brilliantly. But in the end, only caught up by one point, winning it 6-5. So the Hungarians still trail by five. The score sits at 25-20. With Oh Sang-guk coming on. Oh Sang-guk is the anchor for the Koreans and will fence last. Oh Sang-guk will be fencing in the penultimate leg. Well, the referee called that preparation, but Oh Sang-guk saying that there was blade contact. Mal parry is what was called. So although there was contact, it was badly parried, mal parried. Satmari now has the right of way, misses. Oh Sang-guk can now start to build and build and build and finish. That is classic, classic Korean fencing. Well, Satmari getting caught with a distance trap there. Oh Sang-guk, that's the second P persuading your opponent to do something that they didn't want to do. Well, that time Satmari was able to finish the attack. Card for Satmari. So you get a card if you don't start. You get a card if you start too early. Oh Sang-guk building for an attack. Gets caught with the power of post. Satmari very much in touch. 3-2 the score in the sixth leg. Sang-guk. Oh, well, Satmari had the right of the way, but Oh Sang-guk stole the point with a beautiful counter. And the Koreans are only one point away from that target of 30 in the sixth. Oh's attack, Oh finishes nicely. And there it is, 30 to 23. It is starting to run away from the Hungarians now. We're going into the final third and we've got a substitution. Tamas Desi is coming on for Sanad Gomesi. Desi, who is not fenced in this team competition at all. Competed in the individual competition, got 25th in the individual. Simultaneous called. Gu Bong-gil on for Korea. Tamas Desi is a real street fighter. When he hits you, you know you've been hit. Absolutely clunked Gu over the top of the mask there. Just a little bit of debris on the beast. Card here for Desi. Indeed. The attack from Desi was parried. Gu able to hit with a riposte. It's 3-1 in this leg. It's going the wrong way for Tamas Desi. So again, the attack parried. And Gu Bong-gil is just one point away. Simultaneous, nothing called. Desi thought that he got the parry riposte there. I think that the referee just got Kim's name wrong, called him Gu. But that is that. Kim Joon-ho has done a job there. Scoreboard's getting ahead of itself. There's something wrong with the scoring system. They've jumped ahead. There was Gu Bong-gil that came off. Kim Joon-ho is just coming on now. It's not Oh Sang-guk or Aaron Salagi. That's what confused me. Is that the scoring system has jumped to the final leg when we're in the penultimate leg. This is clearly Sat Mari and Kim Joon-ho. So apologies to Vassil Malenchev. It wasn't his error. It was my error, obviously, brought on by the fact that the scoreboard has got it wrong. That's my excuse anyway. So now we're going right the way back to check the scores. And we are back and underway. So they're just testing their equipment, just to check the scoring does work. And we're good to go. 35-24. We're in the eighth leg. It is Kim against Sat Mari. Hold on. So 40 the target score for both fencers. And the way things are going, Sat Mari could reverse things around. Three unanswered hits to the Hungarians. Trailing by eight. And Kim Joon-ho hopping into the attack there. Parry riposte, but the riposte was not landed by the Korean. And Sat Mari just not quick enough. You need to keep fencing. So preparation called on Kim Joon-ho. Nothing given. Great staff from Andras Sat Mari. Score sits at 5-2 in this eighth leg. Well, Kim there changed the tactics, came in, stopped, moved back. Caught Sat Mari out with that distance trap. Sat Mari was already committed to the lunge. Couldn't pull out. And then Kim picked up the right of way and finished the attack. So 5-3 the score. 38-29. And Kim Joon-ho is now one point away from handing over to Oh Sang-guk. A very healthy, potentially 10-point, could be 11-point lead. Well, Andras Sat Mari has clawed one point back, needs more. Kim finishes and it is a 10-point lead. And virtually impossible, even for the triple Olympic champion, the newly crowned world champion, Aaron Selagi. Selagi needs to score three points for every one that Oh scores for Korea. To win this, Selagi would need to score 15. It would need to be a 15-4 win. Well, it's not as close as it was in 2019 in Budapest, that's for sure. What can Selagi do? Can he finish this attack? That would be the first step. Oh, in the splits. I love how he pulls himself up like that, like James Brown. Now Oh's turn to attack. Two beautiful long attacks. And I think both fencers are fencing with pretty much nothing to lose. It's carefree stuff now. Oh has such a big lead that the pressure is off. Selagi, such a big deficit that the pressure is off. Selagi just a little quicker into the middle. Again, Oh asking Vasyl Malenchev for a video review. There was a definite stop there. And Oh just acknowledging that and the referee Malenchev thanking him for it. It's a little bit like an exhibition match at the end now. They're still going for it. But the lead is so big. Oh, OK, so Oh's attack finished there. So it was called attack. No, the foot had landed and Selagi able to pick up the right of way. Selagi now building. Oh, so dangerous when he's being pushed back. Selagi finished on that one. It's 5-2. The gap is closing. And a wry shake of the head from Oh Sanguk there. Aaron Selagi has not given up on this. 6-2 the score. Would be quite remarkable if Selagi could do this. Oh gained the right of way there, but was not able to hit. And Selagi hit on the reprise. So a para riposte from Oh Sanguk. Selagi asking Vaso Malenchev to go and check the video. I'm not sure if this will be overturned. So it's not the prise de fer, it's a para riposte. So it wasn't the beat attack from Selagi. So Korea just need two more. And that is one of them. Korea are one point away from being crowned world champions for the fourth time in a row. And there it is. It was indeed Oh Sanguk's attack. 45-37. Aaron Selagi won the last leg 7-5. But Oh Sanguk knew that he had such a comfortable lead. The Koreans, it was not the fireworks of Budapest 2019. But it is Korea who are world champions yet again. Four in a row they signal. They did it in Leipzig 2017. They did it in Wushu 2018. In Budapest in 2019. And they've done it again in Cairo in 2022. There is Aaron Selagi. And Aslan Malenchev just congratulating the winners, the referee there. And the Hungarians, well, started well for them. But then when the Koreans really started to press.