Italian fencer Marco Mastrullo battled through a field of 75 fencers to win the gold medal in men’s sabre, the second for Italy in these championships.
Mastrullo, ranked 37 in the world, put up an impressive performance to take his first individual European medal. The Italian started the day with 5/6 wins in the pool to claim the 11th seed entering the direct elimination. To reach the semi-finals, he battled through Robert Piecha (GER) 15-11, Viktor Filev (BUL) 15-6 and Murak Abkarov (AZE) 15-13. In the semi-final, Mastrullo defeated Tolga Aslan (TUR) 15-10 to reach the final.
His opponent in the final, Ukrainian fencer Darii Lukashenko, finished the pool with 5/6 wins and took the 9th seed in the direct elimination. On the way to the semi-final he defeated Denis Jevonen (EST) 15-11, teammate Viacheslav Dziuba (UKR) 15-14, Yago Moran (ESP) 15-7 and 1st seeded Vlad Covaliu (ROU) 15-14. In the semi-final Lukashenko took a comfortable win over Casian Cidu (ROU) 15-8 to advance to the final.
Both fencers were quick off the line, but Lukashenko led the match 8-5 going in to the second period. Mastrullo changed tactics to fence in the centre of the piste, which turned out to be a good move as he equalized the score 12-12. The final was decided after a beautiful parry-ripose from Mastrullo to take the victory 15-14.
Junior Men's Saber
