Thrilling Final Sees Italy Claim European Title in Sudden Death Play-Off
In a field of 31 teams, Italy, ranked seventh lined up with Simone Mencarelli, Federico Pezzoli, Davide Santoro & Fabrizio Cuomo (reserve). The four stunned the field by taking the gold medal in an exciting finale.
On route to the final they beat Denmark 45-21, Romania 45-40 and then number two seeds Great Britain 45-33 to face number six seeds, Hungary in the semi-finals. Italy led the match 26-17 after six legs but an amazing comeback from Hungary in the final three bouts nearly ended Italy’s day. Individual silver medalist, Mencarelli just saw Italy through 43-42.
In the other half of the draw, number one seeds, Russia, lined up with Rostislav Rustamov, Artem Sarkisian, Alexey Udovichenko & Semen Zhukov (reserve). They lived up to their billing beating Belarus 45-21, Israel 45-39 and France 45-33 to make the gold medal match.
After three legs of the final the two teams were tied at 12-12 but Italy applied the pressure in the middle third to lead 26-21 with three legs to go. Santoro and Pezzoli maintained than lead for Italy against Rustamov and Sarkisian, handing over a 36-31 lead to their anchorman Mencarelli who faced Udovichenko. A miraculous fight followed as the Russian clawed back the deficit over the final three minutes to draw level at 44-44 on time. A sudden death priority minute was called with Italy getting the priority. Udovichenko nearly landed the killer blow but was just short. Mencarelli capitlised on the miss and in close quarters landed the winning hit with a remise. It was a spectacular finish to the Cadet Men’s Epee events at these Championships where Italy’s Mencarelli added team gold to the silver that he won in the individual event.
The podium was completed by the Hungarian team who beat France 45-37 in the third-place play-off.
