Fencing, world cup in Warsaw: Samele and Gallo bronze in the saber

The men’s saber is the great protagonist of the Italian fencing Saturday: double podium in Warsaw with the third places of Gigi Samele and Michele Gallo. The swordsmen Alberta Santuccio (6th) and Roberta Marzani (8th) are close to the medal zone in Barcelona, ​​while Rossella Gregorio is the best of the blue sabers in Tashkent with her 9th place. In the meantime, 14 Italian foil players advance to the main draw of the FIE Foil Grand Prix in Turin, which will have its climax day tomorrow with the men’s and women’s competitions (with 15 blue women competing).

Double

—

A splendid double bronze for Italy in the men’s saber in the World Cup stage in Warsaw. Gigi Samele and Michele Gallo paint the third step of the podium blue after sumptuous performances, which are also worth a lot from a symbolic point of view. Side by side, in fact, two athletes of different generations carry the tricolor high: Gigi, a champion who at 35 years old and with three Olympic medals on his showcase shows extraordinary continuity, and Michele, born in 2001, for the first time on the podium in the World Cup after conquering the team bronze medal in the last World Cup in Cairo, with Samele as captain. The Fiamme Gialle from Foggia, who trains at Virtus Scherma Bologna, beat the French Seitz 15-11 at the start of the day, then eliminating the Hungarians Gemesi and Szatmari in the series, respectively with scores of 15-8 and 15-13 . The certainty of the podium for Samele came thanks to the 15-14 success in an exciting match against the transalpine Bolade Apithy. The blue champion only stopped in the semifinals in the presence of the Georgian Sandro Bazadze who prevailed 15-12. The Carabinieri from Salerno, who has been in the ranks of Frascati Scherma for some time, after having reached the main draw through Friday’s qualifiers, made his debut by overcoming the Ukrainian Yagodka 15-13. Then the great feat against the three times Olympic champion, the Hungarian champion Aron Szilagyi, beaten 15-12. Once he won that assault, Michele understood that his best international result since Absolute, a “top 8” reached last year in Madrid, was within reach: and so he first overtook another Ukrainian standard-bearer, Humen, for 15-6, then made his heart-pounding quarterfinal 15-14 with the German Szabo. Not satisfied with the medal around his neck, Gallo fought to the last jab also in the semifinal against the Polish Krysztof Kaczkowski, but in the end the host prevailed with a score of 15-14, then winner of the match ahead of Bazadze. So the other Italians: 23rd Giovanni Repetti, 24th Dario Cavaliere, 26th Riccardo Nuccio, 33rd Luca Curatoli, 38th Pietro Torre, 42nd Leonardo Dreossi, 45th Mattia Rea, 49th Luca Fioretto, 55th Matteo Neri and 60th Giacomo Mignuzzi.

Fioretto in Turin

—

At the “Pala Alpitour” the curtain fell on the qualifying phase of the men’s foil. There are 14 Azzurri who qualified for the main draw from 64. Tommaso Marini, Alessio Foconi and Daniele Garozzo took the pass by ranking right. Guillaume Bianchi, Tommaso Martini and Giorgio Avola also joined after the group stage. Thanks to the victories in the preliminary draws, Edoardo Luperi, Davide Filippi, Federico Pistorio, Francesco Ingargiola, Damiano Di Veroli, Alessio Di Tommaso, Filippo Macchi and Lorenzo Nista also reached the main draw. (in addition to the 14 Azzurri for the men, there are also 15 Italians in the women’s event) from 9 am of the “Inalpi Trophy 2023” Grand Prix. FIE live streaming on Youtube from the beginning and the final phases on Sky Sport Uno from 18.15.