2022 248 P3 01 M E Team Cairo EGY CHM PODIUM JAPAN JPN vs HUNGARY HUN

Switzerland. So our running order tonight is Minobe to open, Kano to close for Japan, Siklosi will open and close for Hungary. We get our team salutes. The pleasantries are now over and it's time to get on with some fencing. So as I was saying, Hungary faced France in the semi-final and they were really competitive up until about the seventh leg where it's really important to be competitive and lost 45-37. Japan faced Italy. They just didn't look they didn't look themselves and yeah that was a 45-31 loss to Italy. But both of these teams if you want the bronze medal you've got to go out and fight for it. There's no joint third in team. So first up we'll have Kazuyasu Minobe against Gergely Siklosi and Mihail Pagiev to referee the first two legs of nine. And this bronze medal match is underway. Siklosi men's epee individual world champion in 2019. And just a few days ago he was replaced by Roman Kanan. We'll see him later. They're coming up on a non-combativity call, a passivity call and Mihail Pagiev's hand goes up since they're on level pegging. Both will receive a P yellow card. If you're not familiar with epee, the entire body is the target. It's the purest form of fencing. And it's the only weapon in fencing where both fencers can score at the same time. Siklosi going for the near target. Catching Minobe on the forearm. And we have nine legs. Three fencers against three. Lovely foot hit from Minobe. It's not it's not a match with Minobe until he gets a foot hit. So three against three. Nine legs. Each with a target score of a multiple of five. But with epee, time frequently, if not pretty much always, plays a factor. So we've got nine three-minute legs. A nice parry. Riposte there from Minobe. Now we're going for the foot again. As does Siklosi. And that will do it for the first. Two for Japan. One for Hungary. We go to the second and it will be Koki Kano on for Japan. He will face Matte Thomas Koch in terms of individual world ranking. They're both in the top 10. We've got a pretty fast pace here starting the second. And world ranking. Individual world ranking. Kano is world number five. Koch is world number six. Japan has definitely rediscovered their energy. Now Koch into the low line there. And it goes for the foot. Pressing. Looking for the opening. Now backs off. Has to draw Kano into an attack. A double just on the cusp of a second passivity call. Only about three seconds left before that light went on. That's not an issue now. We're 49 seconds. But the fencers are on a one-minute shot clock. If nothing's scored, then the cards start coming out. Time's going to run out here in the second. And four for Japan. Three for Hungary. Two in it for Matte Thomas Koch. And two for Koki Kano. We'll go to the third and it will be Masaru Yamada on for Japan to face Tibor Andrasovic. Yamada had kind of a tough match against Italy. He's an exciting fencer to watch. He's got an interesting form. He's got an interesting style. He spends a lot of time beating on the blade and then launches these super fast attacks. Very nice beat disengage from Androsovic. Brings us level. Yamada very subdued in this leg. But you can see his hand speed. Well, you could see his feet on that replay. Some adjustment made to Yamada's mask. We're back level again. That is classic Masaru Yamada right there. Takes the blade. Does a big beat disengage. Androsovic trying to press. They come together. Korokor is the referee. Pulls him apart. And time runs out in the third. Six for Japan. Five for Hungary. Two in that for Tibor Androsovic. Two in that for Masaru Yamada. And we go to the fourth. It will be Minobe back on for Japan to face Mate Thomas Kokk. Kokk much more mobile on the piste. He uses the piste. He uses his feet. Going for the foot there. A nice flash attack there from Mate Thomas Kokk. Brings the match level at six. Nobody looking for a hit to the foot. And we're going to get a second passivity card. And because they are level, they will both receive it. And the score will go to seven apiece. The clock was on one minute and one second. So there is room for another passivity call if no hit is scored. And we're getting pretty close to that right now. We're going to get a second red. Score is going to go to eight apiece. And time will run out here in the fourth. But this sets up an interesting scenario. If there is another passivity call and they are level, well, if there is another passivity call, that would take us to a passivity black. And there are a number of different scenarios which we'll get to. But it is Yamada back on for Japan. Tsiklosi on for Hungary. And we start eight apiece. So three in that. Well, actually, it was one hit scored for Kokk. One hit scored for Manobe and two penalty points. Yamada gets a hit back. Big hit there from Yamada. Tsiklosi found the blade, but Yamada found the target. And a card for Gergely Tsiklosi. Just a standard yellow card. If you were trailing in this situation where there have been two red passivity cards, the next passivity card is black. If the score is tied, the team in this case that is higher ranked goes through, or in this case, wins the match. Japan is world number one. Hungary is world number eight. But if the score is not tied and you were trailing, then it is the trailing side that gets the black card. And I don't remember where it was. And maybe it was before the pandemic. But Japan has won a team match like that before. And we're level again at 12. We're under 10 seconds. And I would imagine both would be perfectly happy to just leave it right there. And they do. 12 for Japan. 12 for Hungary. 4 for Tsiklosi. 4 for Yamada. We go to the sixth, and it will be Koki Kano on for Japan and Tibor Androspy for Hungary. And the new game here is putting yourself in an advantageous position, meaning the lead. Just direct attack. Counterattack. So Japan back in the lead by one. Kano again with the counter. That's a two-point margin that Hungary needs to make up. But they have to be really careful doing it. Androspy trying to catch Kano as he goes by. He's got one shot at it. It has to be in one continuous motion. Kano goes flying off the piece to set back a meter. And Mikhail Pagyov says step back. Kano pressing, keeping Androspy at bay. And Androspy knows he has to get something on the board. And he does. About 10 seconds away from another passivity card. The really bad one. Clock's going to run down here in the sixth. And we will go to the seventh. 15 for Japan. 13 for Hungary. And one in that for Tibor Androspy. Three for Koki Kano. And it will be Masaru Yamada on for Japan to face Matte Thomas Koch. And style-wise, I think these two are actually sort of well matched up. And Amber Siviero-Arvano, Switzerland, is on to referee the next two legs. Yamada blocks out Koch's attack. Doesn't actually try, as I saw it, to turn to get a hit. Koch searching for an opportunity on the near target on the arm of the wrist. But Yamada with an explosive attack back to a two-point margin. I would imagine as far as, you know, like the undercurrent here, it's like playing chess on top of two tons of TNT. Koch goes for the foot. He's really up the pace here. Again, I think the clock kept running there. Halt was called before Yamada hit Koch as he went past. So clock reset to 119. So no hit given there. Well, Koch jumped into a crouching position, and Yamada with the counter. Again, Yamada is timing his counterattacks amazingly well. We're talking about his blazing fast hand speed in offense, but he's got it in defense as well. The clock is winding down here in this seventh period. We'll see if Matei Thomas Koch tries to go after another one, but it's all but done here in the seventh, and we will go to the eighth. 18 for Japan, 14 for Hungary. Only one in that for Matei Thomas Koch, three for Masaru Yamada. So Yamada finishes on a plus-two indicator. Matei Thomas Koch on a minus-two, and it will be Kazuyasu Minobe on in the eighth and penultimate leg to face the reserve, David Nagy. So Androspy, after that last outing, decided to put on the reserve and see if he could breathe some life into things. Androspy also, after two appearances, leaves with a minus-two indicator. Nice from Minobe, just spotting the moment to launch a counterattack. There's a double. It's actually the first double we've had in this match, but it doesn't help the Hungarian cause in any way. Nagy steps back, steps back again, trying to reset, trying to draw Minobe in. Oh my, oh my. David Nagy launches this massive flesh attack, and Minobe, with a ducking counter, just picks him off. Japanese coach Gorbachev must be really pleased with this performance in this match. Feints to the low line, feints again, feints again, and again. The end result is a ducking counterattack from Kazuyasu Minobe. Clock's going to run out here in the eighth leg. 23 for Japan, 15 for Hungary, and only one in that for the reserve, David Nagy, and it was on a double. Five for Minobe. We go to the ninth and final leg. The specter of a double P-red there on the scoreboard has lingered over this match all the way through, but we're going to have Koki Kano on against Gergely Tsiklosi. We'll see what happens. Well, the first thing that happens is a parry riposte. Oh, again, beautiful parry riposte from Koki Kano. He's really upped the pace here. We're nowhere near the target score, which is 45 to win, so we're going to have three minutes of fencing. There's another double or second. A little flick under the guard. Yeah, at the moment, the score line for six, seven, eight, and nine on the Hungary side is one, one, one, one. Okay, one, one, one, two. Lovely hit to the foot from Gergely Tsiklosi. Well, they came together, clash of guards, and then Tsiklosi had the presence of mind to just turn and preem and get the hit. Tsiklosi is definitely going after the hits. Well, he picks up the blade. He finds the blade, begins the turn into preem, and then Kano, on a continuation, finds the target. Oh, beat lunge, and we're back to a nine-point margin. Flick to the near target. I thought it may have been his upper arm or his forearm. A flesh attack. It looks like he changed the line because Tsiklosi made contact with the blade. Well, whatever momentum shift that Tsiklosi was trying to achieve just seemed to flip a switch on Koki Kano. Kano picks up the blade, tried to go for a flick to the back, and Tsiklosi just continues counterattack there. I said before, we're not anywhere close to the target score for the ninth leg, but at this hit rate, Koki Kano may get us there. There's still a minute 28 left on the clock. Kano trying to fashion a ducking counter there, but Tsiklosi was pinpoint on the target. Beat Kano just throwing flicks at Tsiklosi, and I'm not sure how he wound up on the floor. I think he just went into the low. He just went into a crouching position. I said before, Masaru Yamada has amazingly fast hand speed. He's not the only one on this team. That was after the call of halt. Double. Now parry, counter parry there. Another double. 18 points from Koki Kano so far in this ninth and final leg. 13 from Gergely Tsiklosi. Make that 14. Kano with the counterattack that went nowhere. Tsiklosi just stepping into that counter. Tsiklosi goes for the hit to the foot, then comes straight up into the high line and is met by a Kano counter, and we started this match with a score of 23-15. We're going to hit 45 here, I'm pretty sure. We do. 45-30. Japan puts on a show to take the bronze medal. 15 points in the ninth for Gergely Tsiklosi. 22 for Koki Kano in the ninth, and as a result of that, Gergely Tsiklosi finishes on a minus eight indicator. Congratulations to Japan. We'll see them on the podium later to pick up their bronze medal. Hungary finishes in fourth place, but that was, that's one of the craziest matches I've ever seen, where by the fourth leg, by the fourth leg, we were on a double P-red, and if there had been one more call, a P-black would have come out, and somebody would have gone home. Well, if they were, if they were hungry, they would have, and they were behind, they, or their day would be finished. But if they had been level, Japan would have gone through on ranking. That was pretty amazing, and then 37 points scored in the ninth leg. If you weren't entertained by that, well, we'll have another go at it later. We've still got our first gold medal match to go, USA versus Italy, women's foil, and then we'll be back with the match-up between men's epee team between Italy and France, like that never happens. I'm just waiting for the, see if we get the confirmation here, but I'm going to hand over to Graham Bell very shortly, and there it is. 45.30, our final