Gergo Szemes Demonstrates the Variety of a True Champion
The Cadet European Championships continued today in Porec, Croatia. The first medal event was the hotly contested Cadet Men’s Foil tournament with 102 athletes vying for the zonal title.
Gergo Szemes of Hungary lived up to his billing as the number one ranked fencer by taking the title in fine style. The 17-year-old, competing in his last year as a Cadet, dropped one of his six ranking round matches which left him ranked ninth for the elimination stages. His path to the medal matches could not have worked out better though as he didn’t face a single top twenty ranked fencer.
After a bye through the incomplete round of 128 fencers, Szemes beat Italian Gabriel Giardinelli 15-12, Spain’s Adria Garcia Mur 15-8, teammate Albert Bagdany 15-3 and Adrien Spichiger of France 15-14 to make the semi-finals. There he met Ivan Bukyga. The unfancied Russian came into the tournament ranked 64th in Europe but blasted his way through the ranking round without losing a fight. Ranked 4th for the elimination phase he also made light work of his progress to the medal matches. The Russian showed all the signs of contemporary men’s foil in his semi-final with Szemes but the Hungarian adopted a much more classic style – one that we have become used to from Hungarian fencers. After a close start Szemes’s class came through as he took the match 15-10.
The other half of the draw saw two Russian fencers battled their way through the field. The pair of 16-year-olds, ranked 8th and 9th in Europe, Zakhar Kozlov and Dmitrii Osipov fenced with great composure to face each other in an intriguing semi-final. Their contrasting styles were a feature of the match as Kozlov bounced in and out of distance whilst Osipov played a steadier game. There was just a single point between them at the one and only break (7-6 to Osipov). Osipov continued to control the distance and without exerting too much energy took the fight 15-10.
Szemes showed what variety he has in the final. He switched from his classical game to a much more energetic one. He gave Osipov no time to think and no distance to play with. That combined with his deadly accuracy took him to a 10-6 lead at the first break. Osipov came out after the rest and turned the tables on the Hungarian. He was more composed and more patient. He managed to level at 12-12 but then started to press again. In fact both fencers started to push each other but it was Szemes’s accuracy that won the day and the European title. A beautiful beat attack took the Hungarian to the crown 15-13.
