Photos: Hungary’s women’s saber team become world champions
The Hungarian women’s fencing team won the gold medal at the World Fencing Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
The Hungarian fencers won their first world championship in this discipline in 1999.
The foursome of Sugár Battai, Renáta Katona, Liza Pusztai, and Luca Szűcs defeated the Uzbeks on Friday and then the Bulgarians to secure their place in the last eight.
The quarter-final matches were played on Saturday, the last day of the World Cup. The Hungarians first beat the Italians, who they lost to at the European Championships in June, by two tries to one, and then won emphatically against the Spaniards.
In the Final
In the final, they played the French and came out in the top 45-40, with Pusztai having to score twice to win the game.
The Hungarian team fought better and better throughout the day and perhaps even surprised themselves with their victory.
Surprised victory
“It was a great experience, we are all in ecstasy and we can’t believe we won because we fought really strong opponents,” said Battai Sugár. “In the final, we faced the strongest team in the field, but we were so focused that everyone just concentrated on their own ace and won it. Or maybe not at the end, but then it didn’t matter because the lead had grown. I am very, very happy and very proud of everyone.”
“Even against the Italians we were completely unencumbered, we obviously wanted to win, but we were convinced that they were the favourites,” began Liza Pusztai. “But if we win, it will be a great success. We were able to fight all day without any pressure. It was key to fight without any load and to have fun.”
Head coach Gábor Gárdos admitted that he was a bit surprised by the victory.
“To be honest, it wasn’t in our tournament, especially after the singles, but when we beat the Italians today, I could see a dam breaking and from there the little ones were fencing better and better. I’m very happy because I’ve been waiting for this feat for a long time, such a young team has done it and it’s fantastic. I just told them that we need a bravo, let’s believe that we can win against anybody. I am very happy.”
The manager congratulated not only them, but also the coaching team behind him, Etelene Ravasz, Benjamin Bódy and László Dávid.
“We did everything together, we discussed everything, when we were going to change, who we were going to change and how we were going to line up,” he added.
The women’s national team won the third medal of the Hungarian delegation in Egypt. On Monday, Áron Szilágyi won the individual sword, and on Thursday, the team of Szilágyi, András Szatmári, Csanád Gémesi, Tamás Decsi finished second.
