U23 MEN’S EPEE REPORT
France claims European title number four on the last day of the individual tournament at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn with Lilian Nguefack taking the Men’s Epee gold.
Seventy-five fencers took to the piste in this event and Nguefack emerged from the poules ranked first after winning all of his six first round fights. That earned him a bye through the round of 64 and he went on to beat Noganowicz (POL) 15-10, Cini (ITA) by the same score and Jutila (FIN) 15-13 to make the top four. He went on to defeat Hadrien Favre (SUI) 15-14 to make the gold medal match.
In the bottom half of the draw Gabriel Bonferroni (SUI) beat Arthur Philippe (FRA) 15-10 to complete the gold medal line-up.
Both finalists conceded to a minute of passivity at the start of the final, taking yellow cards to boot. Nguefack took matters into his own hands though and timed some lovely attacks to lead 3-1 at the first break. A sublime second period saw the Frenchman lead Bonferroni 11-4 going into the final period and Nguefack went on to claim the European title with a 15-9 victory.
