The Hungarian Men’s Sabre Team ended the European Championships in style in Novi Sad today, taking the last gold medal of the tournament. They beat a spirited Italian team in the final, 45-33.
Hungary, ranked second for the event, eased past Ukraine 45-25 before edging Romania 45-37 to make the gold medal match. The Romanians came off the back of an unexpected victory over Russia in the previous round. At the top of the draw, Italy, ranked first for the event had to battle their way past Georgia 45-41 and Germany 45-44 to make the final.
Romania took on Germany for the bronze medal and fell away in the middle of the match to trail 30-25. Great stints from Alin Badea and Iulian Teodosiu put them with one point (39-40) before the last leg. Despite a brave fight from the Romanian anchor, Tiberiu Dolniceanu, Matyas Szabo took Germany to the bronze, winning 45-43.
Hungary started well against Italy in the gold medal match and were running away with it until Luigi Samele came on in the seventh leg, 30-18 down. The Italian outscored Csanad Gemesi 11-5 to close the gap but World Champion, Andras Szatmari and double Olympic Champion, Aron Szilagyi only gave away four points between them in the final two legs, taking Hungary to victory 45-33.
Full results are available online, here.
