With a bye, three Hungarian fencers can fight among the top 64 at the World Olympic Qualifying Championships in Milan on Wednesday.
Gergely Siclusi, who is third in the world rankings – 2019 world champion, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist – and Mate Koch, who is in 12th place, were able to rest on qualifying day will only start in the main draw with 14 other finishers.
Tibor Andrasvi was also on the verge of being released from his assignment on Sunday, as he is ranked 17th in the international rankings and 14th-ranked Ukrainian Igor Raislin looked set to fall behind, as there were – as neutrals – two Russian fencers on the field. At least two weeks ago, referring to the decision of the Ukrainian Sports Administration, Olga Harlan, the four-time individual world champion in the women’s saber tournament, said that she would not compete in the numbers in which Russia or Belarus enter. However, Reizlin remained on the list. The captain of the national team Gabor Bochko also found this strange, because the Ukrainians pulled out three more duelists, originally also Reizlin, who later returned to the field. The specialist believes that the Ukrainians will see if there will be a Russian duelist in the main draw, and if not, then the seeded Reizlin will be able to fence in there, and if so, he will drop out. In the end, Vagyim Anohin reached 64, and it turned out that he had to start with Reizlin in the first round …
Anyway, Andrásfi had to fight like this on Sunday too. In his six-man set, he won four – two of them with a comeback – but in his last set he lost 5-4 to Noilito Jose of the Philippines, which he was apparently not happy with. After that, two direct elimination matches were waiting for him to fight for the main draw. He already had to fight for success against Pablo Florido, so much so that the hard-fighting Mexican took a 12-10 lead with half a minute left in the duel time. Andrásfi, however, handled the situation well, bravely pushed ahead – he couldn’t do anything else – and quickly equalized, then went ahead, and at the last second gave another touch as he attacked the Mexican to equalise. The score was 14-12. For the second time, he faced Vin Favard, and again all his concentration was required: the Canadian drove in several times, but eventually the translation combined, and then they went 14-13 on combined strokes, Andrasvi being more accurate in the last measure.
After qualifying Tibor Andrasvi told M4 Sport that he couldn’t say many good things about the day, except for the finish, he fought slowly, the fights didn’t come out the way he wanted, which made him even more frustrated and he had very “suffering” matches. “Somehow I didn’t want to meet this day in any way, but fortunately my heart was in the right place and I was always able to draw a new one at the end, which then decided the matches in my favor.”
Tibor Andrasvi: I came to the restroom to get a medal
Regarding the uncertainty related to setbacks, he said that until Saturday morning he would not fight on Sunday. “I was confident I wasn’t going to have to fight, I was a bit prepared, but I’m glad I managed to work it out that way.”
He’s expecting a medal at home plate, but his movement still needs honing. “I came to win a medal, this year I’ve already shown that I can make it to the final. Judging from my fencing today I still have to get my moves together in a lot of places but the will to fight and the fact that I was able to focus in tight situations should definitely give me strength and the fact that I was able to get myself on home plate even on a day like this.”
David Nagy won five matches and lost one in a set of seven, losing to a Kyrgyz opponent. He also had to win two aces to continue the competition on Wednesday. However, from the start, he encountered a South Korean swordsman who moved a lot, jumped, and feinted constantly, which made his job very difficult. Nagy was at a disadvantage several times, there were times when he worked with a three-point advantage, but after a sensational ace 14-14, it was decided in favor of Szon Te Dzin.
The largest field of male duelists – 243 people – also gathered this time.
The duelists and duelists will start their shows on Monday.
