Qualification for Tokyo 2020 continued at the weekend at the Warsaw Men’s Sabre World Cup 2019.
Going into the event Hungary, Italy and Germany held top four automatic qualification places behind a very strong Korean team. Russia sat in the additional European spot a long way ahead of France and Romania. Russia were also within striking distance of the top four.
A massive turn in recent performance saw the French team smash their way to victory beating Romania, Hungary, Italy and then Korea on route. The measure of these victories sent out a clear message to their rivals – France are not out of the picture yet!
Germany beat Italy in the bronze medal play-off and both teams extended their leads over Russia. The Russian team were eliminated by Italy in the quarterfinals and then lost to Hungary in the placing matches before beating China to finish 7th.
The net result is that Hungary remain in the top four with both Italy and Germany closing the gap on them. At the same time all three of these European teams are building a healthy points buffer over the chasing pack. The French victory means that they are now a very real threat in the race for the additional European place. Russia still lead but the French team are now just 8 points behind.
The additional European individual places were occupied by French fencer, Bolade Apithy and Georgian, Sandro Bazadze ahead of the event. Both men made the top 8 in Poland and maintained their lead over the chasing pack. Crucially though, if Apithy’s France continue their team form, the Frenchman may not need to rely on the individual qualification route. Should France qualify by team then Bazadze is looking a strong contender for Olympic qualification because the race for the other European place would almost certainly be an all-Russian affair between Ibragimov, Reshetnikov and Lokhanov – only one can qualify if they fail through the team route.
There are two more events to go namely, the Padua World Cup (6-8 March) and the Budapest World Cup (20-22 March).
