Men
In addition, the 28-year-old athlete recently defended his European champion title in Tbilisi, which indicates that he is serious about the world championship.
Borel had already won World Championship medals, including gold, but did so exclusively in team competitions. It was with his partners on the French national team that he won gold at the Rio Olympics.
The best in Rio in the individual championship was the Korean Park Sang-young, which has experienced a decline this season, although the status of Olympic champion already speaks volumes.
Another Korean Park Kyung-doo this season he won the Heidenheim World Cup, and also took two bronze medals at the Grand Prix in Budapest and Bogota. You can expect good results from him.
Italian Marco Fichera is having an uneven season, but his World Cup victory in Paris suggests he can get his act together when the time is right.
How can I not mention Nikolai Novoselov from Estonia, who is a two-time world champion. At 37 years old, he is still competing at the highest level.
Russia will be represented in the individual championship Vadim Anokhin, Nikita Glazkov, Sergei Khodos And Pavel Sukhov. Will also be added to the team Anton Glebko.
Who we would highlight is Glazkov, who won the World Cup in Bern in October 2016, and Khodos, who took bronze at the last European Championships in Tbilisi.
Nikita Glazkov
Women
Hungarian Emesh Sas considered the main favorite in the women's competition. Her collection has almost all the awards, including the individual gold of Rio 2016, but is missing a medal of the highest standard from the World Championship.
The Chinese will try to compete with her Sun Yiwen, who became a bronze medalist at the last Olympics. Let's not discount the Italian either. Rossellu Fiamingo. She lost to Sas in the final of the Olympic tournament, but is performing well this season.
Also among the potential contenders for awards are: Alexandru Ndolo from Germany and Yulia Belyaeva from Estonia.
Will compete for Russia at the world championship Tatiana Logunova, Violetta Kolobova, Daria Martynyuk And Tatyana Gudkova, and Tatiana Andryushina in team competitions.
The greatest prospects, of course, are Kolobova, who won the European Championships last month. She took silver at the World Cup in Tallinn and the Grand Prix in Doha, but she also had downturns this season.
Violetta Kolobova
Foil Tournament
Men
Among the foil players, the top three clearly stand out and, best of all, there is a Russian in it - Timur Safin.
The 24-year-old fencer has been in stable form since January. During this period, he won silver at the World Cup in Paris, took bronze at the World Cup in Bonn, and also became the best at the Grand Prix in Long Beach.
At the recent European Championships he reached the final, where he lost to the Italian Daniele Garozzo, who, moreover, is the current Olympic champion.
In addition to Safin and Garozzo, American Alexander Massialas has a good chance of success. At the 2015 World Championships in Moscow, he was one step away from victory. So why not finish what you started?
Also, let's not discount the Italians Giorgio Awolu And Alessio Foconi, as well as the British Richard Kruse.
As for the Russians, in addition to Safin, they will perform in Leipzig Timur Arslanov, Dmitry Zherebchenko, Alexey Cheremisinov And Dmitry Rigin.
Timur Safin
Women
In the women's tournament, we also have a contender for gold, and she ranks first in the world rankings. We are talking about Inna Deriglazova, Olympic champion at Rio 2016.
The 27-year-old native of Kurchatov won the World Cup in Saint-Maur this season, took bronze in Tauber, and silver at the Shanghai Grand Prix.
At the last European Championships, Deriglazova became a silver medalist, losing in the final Arianna Errigo from Italy. The experienced seven-time world champion should also be wary of in Leipzig.
Young American Lee Kiefer is also in the mood for serious competition, as can be judged by her current season, in which she won the Grand Prix tournaments in Turin and Long Beach, not to mention her eighth consecutive Pan American gold!
Among other strong rapier players, the Frenchwoman stands out Isaora Tibus, American Nicole Ross, Italians Martina Batini And Alice Volpi.
Russian Svetlana Tripapina is not one of the favorites, but her victory at the Polish World Cup this year shows that she is making serious progress. Our team will also be represented here Marta Martyanova And Adelina Zagidullina, A Anastasia Ivanova is in reserve.
Inna Deriglazova
Saber tournament
Men
In the men's saber tournament we will root for Kamilya Ibragimova, Alexey Yakimenko, Dmitry Danilenko, Veniamina Reshetnikova And Vladislav Pozdnyakov, although, frankly speaking, no one bets on them before the World Cup.
The favorite here is the two-time Olympic champion from Hungary Aron Szilagyi, who, however, did not achieve much success this season, except for the team bronze at the European Championships in Tbilisi.
The Korean has good prospects Kim Jung Hwan, ranked second in the world rankings. This season he won the World Cup in Warsaw and the Grand Prix in Seoul. At the same time, he sensationally lost to the Iranian at the Asian Championship Mohammad Rahbari in the 1/8 finals.
But another Korean won the Asian Championship Gu Bonjilu, who is having a very strong season, so don’t be surprised if he shoots at the World Championships.
Let's not forget about the American Olympic silver medalist Daryl Homer. For a long time he did not win anything, but recently he made his mark again by winning the Pan-American Championship.
Women
Current Olympic champion from Russia Yana Yegoryan has excellent chances to become the best at the World Championships. This season she took two golds at the Grand Prix stages, demonstrating her high spirit.
Unfortunately, she missed the continental championship due to injury, but she should have enough time for a full recovery.
Along with Yegoryan, they will perform in Leipzig Anna Bashta, Sofia Pozdnyakova And Valeria Bolshakova, who do not yet have serious achievements, but have a great desire to progress.
Who will try to compete with Yegoryan? You can call it Hungarian Annu Marton, which became the opening of the season. Korean Kim Ji-young was again the strongest in Asia, so she should be feared at the world championship.
The French are performing well this season Manon Brunet And Cecilia Berder. Well, how can we not mention the experienced Ukrainian Olga Kharlan, who won the recent World Cup in Tunisia, where she was ahead of Yegoryan, Brunet, and Marton. But the main battles are still ahead.
Yana Yegoryan
Broadcasts
If you want to watch the World Fencing Championship with your own eyes, we suggest tuning in to live broadcasts hosted by "Match TV" and other sub-holding channels.
An alternative would be Eurosport, whose program also includes broadcasts from Leipzig.
Alexandra Ivanova
July 19, 2017The world fencing championship, the first since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, starts on Wednesday in Leipzig, Germany. 12 sets of awards will be played out: in individual and team competitions in three types of weapons - epee, foil and saber among men and women.
The Russian team has consistently won the overall World Championship standings since 2013. Two years ago, when the tournament was held in Moscow, Russian fencers chalked up 4 gold medals, just like at the Olympic Games in Rio a year later. However, winning the Nation Cup at the first post-Olympic World Championship is not the team’s goal. The fact is that over the year the national team has been significantly updated and a completely different composition will perform at the tournament.
“Despite the current situation, we don’t want to fall out of the top three in the overall team competition, but it will be difficult. In addition, this is painful to perceive, because in recent years we have consistently won this competition and are accustomed to victories. And somehow they forgot that we haven’t won the Nations Cup since 2002 for 11 years in a row. But we need to stay in the top three even now. And if we take first place, I’ll probably go crazy with happiness,” admitted the head coach of the Russian team, Ilgar Mamedov, in an interview with the R-Sport agency.
The performance of the main star of Russian fencing, two-time Olympic champion Yana Yegoryan, in individual competitions is still a big question mark. The saber fencer broke her toe at home shortly before the European Championships.
Despite the injury, Yegoryan competed in team competitions and helped the Russian team win silver. However, this did not make his finger any better, and before the tournament in Leipzig Yegoryan is in a state that is far from optimal.
The World Championship will take place for a week - from July 19 to 26 at the Arena Leipzig. The first awards will be awarded only on Saturday, July 21, when the individual finals in women's foil and men's saber will take place.
Among the foil players, one of the favorites is the Russian Inna Deriglazova, who won Olympic gold in this type of weapon a year ago. Another Olympic champion, albeit in a team, Timur Safin, will compete in the foil tournament.
33-year-old saber fencer Alexey Yakimenko, who won one of his awards in Leipzig at the 2005 World Championships (as a team), will try to win his ninth gold medal at the World Championships. If in individual competitions the success of Yakimenko or any other Russian will be, to put it mildly, a surprise, then in the team championship, on the contrary, we can fully expect them to get on the podium.
Yana Zvereva, who was originally announced as a member of the Russian national team, will not compete in the epee fence competition due to an injury received during training. She will be replaced by Tatyana Andryushina. The leader in women's epee is Violetta Kolobova, who won the European Championships in June. The same tournament was unexpectedly won by the Russian epee team consisting of Vadim Anokhin, Nikita Glazkov, Sergei Khodos and Pavel Sukhov.
With minor changes (Anokhin will perform only in individual competitions, and Anton Glebko will replace him on the team), the epee fencers will try to surprise everyone again at the 2017 World Championships.
In the women's saber in individual competitions, a medal should only be expected if Yegoryan performs.
Without her, none of the Olympic champions in Rio will be at the World Championships - for various reasons, they all miss the tournament. But 20-year-old Sofia Pozdnyakova, the daughter of four-time Olympic champion and first vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) Stanislav Pozdnyakov, will perform. All young people are being let down by the coaching staff with an eye on Tokyo 2020, so the result is not yet required: the Russian Fencing Federation has taken time to reboot.
Men
In addition, the 28-year-old athlete recently defended his European champion title in Tbilisi, which indicates that he is serious about the world championship.
Borel had already won World Championship medals, including gold, but did so exclusively in team competitions. It was with his partners on the French national team that he won gold at the Rio Olympics.
The best in Rio in the individual championship was the Korean Park Sang-yong, who has experienced a decline this season, although his status as an Olympic champion already speaks volumes.
Another Korean, Park Kyung-Doo, won the Heidenheim World Cup this season, and also took two bronze medals at the Grand Prix in Budapest and Bogota. You can expect good results from him.
Italian Marco Fichera has had a very uneven season, but his victory at the World Cup in Paris suggests that he can pull himself together at the right time.
How can we not mention Nikolai Novoselov from Estonia, who is a two-time world champion. At 37 years old, he is still competing at the highest level.
Russia will be represented in the individual championship by Vadim Anokhin, Nikita Glazkov, Sergei Khodos and Pavel Sukhov. Anton Glebko will also be added to the team.
Who we would highlight is Glazkov, who won the World Cup in Bern in October 2016, and Khodos, who took bronze at the last European Championships in Tbilisi.
Women
Hungarian Emese Szasz is considered the main favorite in the women's competition. Her collection has almost all the awards, including the individual gold of Rio 2016, but is missing a medal of the highest standard from the World Championship.
The Chinese Sun Yiwen, who became a bronze medalist at the last Olympics, will try to compete with her. Let's not discount the Italian Rossella Fiamingo. She lost to Sas in the final of the Olympic tournament, but is performing well this season.
Also among the potential contenders for awards are Alexandra Ndolo from Germany and Yulia Belyaeva from Estonia.
Tatyana Logunova, Violetta Kolobova, Daria Martynyuk and Tatyana Gudkova will compete for Russia at the world championship, as well as Tatyana Andryushina in the team competition.
The greatest prospects, of course, are Kolobova, who won the European Championships last month. She took silver at the World Cup in Tallinn and the Grand Prix in Doha, but she also had downturns this season.
Men
Among the foil players, the top three clearly stand out and, best of all, there is a Russian in it - Timur Safin.
The 24-year-old fencer has been in stable form since January. During this period, he won silver at the World Cup in Paris, took bronze at the World Cup in Bonn, and also became the best at the Grand Prix in Long Beach.
At the recent European Championships, he reached the finals, where he lost to the Italian Daniele Garozzo, who, moreover, is the current Olympic champion.
In addition to Safin and Garozzo, American Alexander Massialas has a good chance of success. At the 2015 World Championships in Moscow, he was one step away from victory. So why not finish what you started?
Also, let's not discount the Italians Giorgio Avola and Alessio Foconi, as well as the Briton Richard Kruse.
As for the Russians, in addition to Safin, Timur Arslanov, Dmitry Zherebchenko, Alexey Cheremisinov and Dmitry Rigin will perform in Leipzig.
Women
In the women's tournament, we also have a contender for gold, and she ranks first in the world rankings. We are talking about Inna Deriglazova, Olympic champion at Rio 2016.
The 27-year-old native of Kurchatov won the World Cup in Saint-Maur this season, took bronze in Tauber, and silver at the Shanghai Grand Prix.
At the last European Championships, Deriglazova became a silver medalist, losing in the final to Arianna Errigo from Italy. The experienced seven-time world champion should also be wary of in Leipzig.
Young American Lee Kiefer is also looking to compete hard, as evidenced by her current season, which has seen her win Grand Prix tournaments in Turin and Long Beach, not to mention her eighth consecutive Pan American gold!
Other strong foil players include the Frenchwoman Isaora Thibus, the American Nicole Ross, and the Italians Martina Batini and Alice Volpi.
Russian Svetlana Tripapina is not among the favorites, but her victory at the Polish World Cup this year shows that she is making serious progress. Also, our team will be represented here by Marta Martyanova and Adelina Zagidullina, and Anastasia Ivanova is in reserve.
Men
In the men's saber tournament we will be rooting for Kamil Ibragimov, Alexey Yakimenko, Dmitry Danilenko, Veniamin Reshetnikov and Vladislav Pozdnyakov, although, frankly speaking, no one is betting on them before the World Championships.
The favorite here is considered to be the two-time Olympic champion from Hungary Aron Szilágyi, who, however, has not achieved much success this season, except for the team bronze at the European Championships in Tbilisi.
Korean Kim Jong Hwan, who ranks second in the world rankings, has good prospects. This season he won the World Cup in Warsaw and the Grand Prix in Seoul. At the same time, at the Asian Championship, he sensationally lost to the Iranian Mohammad Rahbari in the 1/8 finals.
But another Korean, Gu Bonjilu, won the Asian Championship and is having a very strong season, so you shouldn’t be surprised if he makes it at the World Championship as well.
Let's not forget about the Olympic silver medalist, American Daryl Homer. For a long time he did not win anything, but recently he made his mark again by winning the Pan-American Championship.
The current Olympic champion from Russia, Yana Yegoryan, has an excellent chance of becoming the best at the World Championships. This season she took two golds at the Grand Prix stages, demonstrating her high spirit.
Unfortunately, she missed the continental championship due to injury, but she should have enough time for a full recovery.
Along with Yegoryan, Anna Bashta, Sofia Pozdnyakova and Valeria Bolshakova will perform in Leipzig, who have no serious achievements yet, but have a great desire to progress.
Who will try to compete with Yegoryan? You can name Hungarian Anna Marton, who became the discovery of the season. Korean Kim Ji-yong was again the strongest in Asia, so she should be feared at the world championship.
The French women Manon Brunet and Cecilia Berder are performing well this season. Well, how can we not mention the experienced Ukrainian Olga Kharlan, who won the recent World Cup in Tunisia, where she was ahead of Yegoryan, Brunet, and Marton. But the main battles are still ahead.
If you want to watch the World Fencing Championship with your own eyes, we suggest tuning in to live broadcasts hosted by Match TV and other channels of the subholding.
An alternative would be Eurosport, whose program also plans to broadcast from Leipzig.
The Executive Committee of the Russian Fencing Federation (RFF) approved the composition of the Russian national team to participate in the 2017 World Championships. TASS reports this with reference to the organization's press service.
Sword. Women: Tatyana Logunova (individual competitions only), Violetta Kolobova, Daria Martynyuk, Tatyana Gudkova, Yana Zvereva (team only), men: Vadim Anokhin (individual competitions only), Nikita Glazkov, Sergey Khodos, Pavel Sukhov, Anton Glebko (team only) .
Saber. Women: Yana Yegoryan, Anna Bashta, Valeria Bolshakova, Sofia Pozdnyakova, Anastasia Bazhenova (reserve), men: Kamil Ibragimov, Alexey Yakimenko, Veniamin Reshetnikov (personal only), Dmitry Danilenko, Vladislav Pozdnyakov (team only).
Rapier. Women: Inna Deriglazova, Adelina Zagidullina, Svetlana Tripapina, Marta Martyanova, Anastasia Ivanova (reserve), men: Timur Safin, Timur Arslanov, Dmitry Zherebchenko, Alexey Cheremisinov (personal only), Dmitry Rigin (team only).
Let us remind you that the 2017 World Fencing Championship will be held from July 19 to 26 in Leipzig (Germany). 12 sets of awards will be awarded at the tournament.
Two-time Olympic champion Yana Yegoryan may miss the individual championship at the World Fencing Championship due to injury.
Let us remind you that Yegoryan broke her toe at home, which is why she missed the personal tournament at the European Championships, which took place in June.
“It is unknown whether Yegoryan will be able to fencing in the individual championship in Leipzig or whether he will limit himself to team competitions only,” said the head coach of the Russian national team, Ilgar Mamedov. “The finger doesn’t heal, she can’t get any weight. This means that she does not have normal preparation for the World Cup. We’ll look at it in Leipzig; naturally, the coaching staff is tasked with preserving it for the national team.
She herself really wants to compete in the individual championship at the World Championships. She is on a gentle regimen because, unfortunately, this toe just can’t heal. You understand, the girl’s toe is thin, and if you put more pressure on it... At the European Championships, she fencing in a team and in the final she was clearly limping. She was given painkilling injections, but she couldn’t perform on them forever. Like it or not, the fracture will be felt.
Russian fencers have long taught everyone that in their field they remain the best on the planet. Since 2013, they have occupied first place in the medal standings of all world championships. This was followed by a natural triumph at the Rio Olympics, when four victories were won in 10 types of the program (and two more took place in team events not included in the Olympic program).
This extremely successful Olympic cycle has become a thing of history, and now the Russian team is looking for new talents who will perform on the Tokyo stage in three years. A team with many new names went to the World Championships in Leipzig, and Rio veterans are not always in the main roles. This updated team already has something to brag about - based on the results of personal competitions, three Russian fencers became world champions.
The beginning of the gold mine was laid by rapier player Inna Deriglazova. One could not expect a place lower than first from her, because she came to Germany as an Olympic champion. This season, the 27-year-old athlete lost in the final of the European Championship to her main rival, Italian Arianna Errigo, but in the semifinals of the World Championship Deriglazova took convincing revenge with a score of 15:6. It was not easy for the Russian woman to just fight for gold with the ambitious Alice Volpi. The Rio champion led the Italian with a score of 11:3, but was able to snatch victory only in priority - 14:13.
“To be honest, this victory was even more difficult than in Rio. Perhaps because there were two major tournaments in a row, and it is very difficult to win constantly. Actually, the World Championship showed this. This victory is no less memorable. Having led eight pins in the final tournament, allowing my opponent to catch up with me... Now I’m just jubilant. For spectators, such a final is more spectacular, but I wouldn’t mind finishing at least 15:5 rather than taking priority with an injection,” Deriglazova, who defended her world champion title, told R-Sport.
Although her victory was the highlight of the tournament that started, it should be noted that her teammates performed below expectations. Aida Shanaeva and Larisa Korobeynikova, with whom the Russian team was one of the most powerful for many years, were replaced by young Svetlana Tripapina and Marta Martyanova, who failed to advance beyond the 1/8 finals. The slightly more experienced Adelina Zagidullina scored only one victory in the main draw.
On the first day of the World Championships, individual saber fence competitions also took place. Here, there was no rotation in the Russian team, and the old guard arrived in Leipzig, who, if they had success in the current World Cup, then only in some team starts. This, as expected, led to mediocre results for most of the team - Veniamin Reshetnikov lost to future world champion András Szatmáry from Hungary in the first round, Alexey Yakimenko, who defended the title, stopped in the second round, Dmitry Danilenko in the third.
Kamil Ibragimov became a ray of light. During the tournament, he beat two-time Olympic champion Aron Szilágyi from Hungary and reached the semifinals, where he lost to South Korean Koo Bon-gil. The 23-year-old Russian won his first individual medal at the world championships - bronze. For him, this is an excellent result, but for a team that has given the world three different champions in the last three tournaments, it is somewhat depressing.
The same words can be used to describe the performances of saber fencers, but there are several objective reasons for which it is too early for fans to fall into despair. Of the golden squad that won the Olympic team tournament in Rio, only Yana Yegoryan remained in the team, who competed after breaking her toe. In the second round she lost to the little-known Spaniard Lucia Martin-Portugues.
“Injury has nothing to do with it. I underestimated my opponent and didn’t understand the judging. Since I am quite emotional and explosive, I already fought not with my opponent, but directly with the judge. When you anger a judge, it also makes itself felt. I didn’t train, I didn’t do anything, that’s why this is the result. Of course, there was a desire to come and win, but when you don’t work, then you don’t get a medal. That’s what happened to me,” Yegoryan explained.
Anna Bashta, Valeria Bolshakova and Sofia Pozdnyakova performed little better - none of them managed to reach the quarterfinals. The daughter of the great saber fencer Stanislav Pozdnyakov scored a victory over a very strong American Dagmara Wozniak, but this is where the saber fencers’ achievements in the individual tournament can be considered complete. But in the team tournament, young Russian girls can still be considered favorites of the competition.
The new composition of the men's epee team can be considered formed after the team's victory at the European Championships in Tbilisi. But at the World Championships, this foursome, consisting of Vadim Anokhin, Sergei Khodos, Pavel Sukhov and Nikita Glazkov, did not pass the test - none of them managed to beat at least one foreign opponent. Only Sukhov advanced to the second round thanks to his victory over Hodos, but immediately lost to the future winner of the competition, Paolo Pizzo from Italy.
After the unsuccessful second day of the World Championship, a super-profitable third came. In women's epee, the main hopes were placed on proven fighters Tatyana Logunova, who won at the Sydney Olympics, and Violetta Kolobova, who led the world rankings before the World Championships. But they both lost in the quarterfinals.
The current champion Kolobova was eliminated by her teammate Tatyana Gudkova, and now it was up to her to get the gold. The 24-year-old athlete, who won everything possible in juniors, coped with the new task - Gudkova became only the second Russian world champion in individual competitions after Lyubov Shutova in 2009. The young fencer was very pleased with her victory.
“I’m very happy, I can’t stop crying with happiness. I still can’t feel like a world champion. I've been working towards this for a very long time. I fought until the end and I’m glad that everything worked out. All the battles were difficult - from the very first, won with priority. And the fight with Kolobova became decisive: after that I realized that there was no turning back and I had to go to the end. And I succeeded. There are many unexpected results here. And for me it seemed to work out very well,” Gudkova said after the victory.
Following her, foil player Dmitry Zherebchenko presented a sensation with a plus sign. He was already in the sight of the national team's coaches a year ago and even went to the Olympics in Rio, but he did not become an Olympic champion in the team then - he needed to hold at least one mini-fight so that the trio of gold medalists would turn into a quartet. Now fate has returned the favor to him in the form of the highest award at the World Championship. On the way to the top step of the podium, Zherebchenko defeated Alexey Cheremesinov and two-time Rio medalist Alexander Massialas from the USA. In the final, the Russian took revenge on the Japanese Toshiya Saito, who left Timur Safin out of work.
“Based on the score, it may seem that there were no special problems, because there wasn’t a single fight with a difference of one hit. Nevertheless, every fight was not easy for me - starting from the first. I had no right to lose after defeating Cheremisinov. It is a tragedy for the country when two athletes meet in the early stages. I did everything I could. And did. But I haven’t gotten the feeling yet, to be honest. I was putting my career on hold. And I wouldn’t have believed that I would win the World Championship even after I resumed it. I was afraid to dream about it, this is such a serious result,” the athlete admitted.
Three victories based on the results of six starts - this result can already be considered successful, taking into account the fact that two gold medals for the Russian team were won by dark horses, from whom one could not expect medals. Now there are team competitions ahead, which can help to gain a foothold in the first line of the medal standings.
MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. The Russian fencing team at the World Championships in Leipzig, Germany, became second in the medal standings, behind the Italian team for the first time in six years. After a successful performance at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, a generational change occurred in the national team, which hit the saber team the hardest, which did not win a single medal.
Revival of the sword
Russian fencers won six medals at the World Championships. The foil players performed most successfully in the national team at the tournament in Leipzig, winning three awards. Inna Deriglazova and Dmitry Zherebchenko won gold, and the women's team won bronze in the team competition. Tatyana Gudkova won the epee tournament. The bronze medals were won by saber fencer Kamil Ibragimov and the men's epee fencing team.
Particularly noteworthy is the success of Russian epee fencers, who in recent years have extremely rarely demonstrated high results at the main competitions of the season, as evidenced by their performance at the Olympic Games in Brazil, where in the team tournament they did not reach the semifinals, and in individual competitions no one reached the quarterfinals. Anton Glebko, Pavel Sukhov, Nikita Glazkov and Sergei Khodos were able to break the stagnation in men's epee.
In the opposite direction, there was movement in the saber team. “There was no plan for the World Championship, but it’s nice that we won six medals. Unfortunately, we can’t be happy for the saber, it was a weak World Championship for it. We need to do an analysis and figure it out,” said the head coach of the Russian national team, Ilgar Mamedov.
The most obvious decline in results occurred in the women's team, which at the 2016 Games took three awards, two of which were top honors. Two-time Olympic fencing champion Yana Yegoryan in Leipzig failed to reach the quarterfinals of the individual championship, while the team did not make it to the semifinals. The men's team, which included Veniamin Reshetnikov, Dmitry Danilenko, Alexey Yakimenko and Kamil Ibragimov, took eighth place.
It's time to surprise
After the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the long-time leader of the saber team, Sofia Velikaya, suspended her career. Yegoryan only recently healed from a finger injury, but the head coach of the national team does not make allowances for this, especially since the team came second at the June European Championships. The main problem, according to him, is that athletes have stopped surprising their rivals with non-standard solutions.
“The women’s saber has not shown itself in any way. We need to change the repertoire; it’s difficult to fencing with one for the second four years in a row. You need to have new home preparations so that your opponents are not ready for what you do,” Mamedov noted.
The general manager of the Russian national team, Christian Bauer, will have something to think about in the coming year, assessing the performance of the saber team and looking for reinforcements in the nearest reserve of the national team.
It was possible to find hidden reserves in the epee and foil competitions. Zherebchenko managed to adequately replace Olympic champion Timur Safin, who finished the fight in individual competitions at the 1/8 final stage, while for 24-year-old Gudkova gold became the first medal of the world championships.
In general, the foil team confirmed its high status. Olympic champion Deriglazova came second at the European Championships, but at the main start of the season she managed to take revenge on Arianna Errigo in the semifinals, and in the decisive match she defeated another Italian, Alice Volpi.
Italy is first
The winners of the medal standings were the Italians (4-1-4), who traditionally compete with the Russians in the fight for first place. The current success was their first since 2011, when the World Cup was held in their homeland - Catania. At the 2015 World Championships in Moscow, the Russians won the overall standings (4-4-1). At the 2014 World Championships in Kazan, Russian fencers shared first place with them, and at the 2013 World Championships in Budapest they won.
South Korean athletes took third place at the World Championships in Leipzig (1-2-0).
At the Olympic Games in Brazil, ten sets of medals were competed in fencing, two less than at the World Championships, but Russian fencers managed to show excellent results, winning four gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Next year the World Championship will be held in Wuxi, China, where the Russian team will try to return to the leading position.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Today the World Championship starts in Leipzig, Germany, in which the Russian team expects to take a place in the top three in the team standings
IN In recent years, it has been the Russians who have set the tone in fencing. The previous world championship took place in Moscow and ended with the triumph of domestic weapons. Alexey Yakimenko, Inna Deriglazova and Sofia Velikaya won personal victories, and the women's saber team left no chance for anyone in the team tournament. The Olympic Games in Rio turned out to be even more successful for us: the final of Yana Yegoryan and Velikaya, the golden success of Deriglazova, the long-awaited first place in the women's team saber and the sensation of the men's team foil. But there were also bronze medals for Timur Safin and epee fencers in team competitions.
EGORYAN'S CHARACTER
However, you need to be prepared for the fact that the Russian team will not win such a scattering of medals at the upcoming World Championships. 16 people from our Olympic squad will not perform in Germany at once. Some have completed their careers, some have suspended their careers, and some are injured.
Nevertheless, the team faces the task of getting into the top three in the team competition. This is not surprising - even in the current experimental Russian team there are a number of star athletes. First of all, this is, of course, Yana Yegoryan. The 23-year-old athlete made the whole country fall in love with her last summer. And she is the face of the current team.
Another thing is that it is not yet possible to say with certainty that the two-time Olympic champion will perform in Leipzig in an individual tournament. Shortly before the European Championships, the athlete broke her toe. She would calmly recover for the world championship, but she did not agree with this at all. I wanted to help the team at Europe. As a result, in Tbilisi, our saber team with Yegoryan in its composition reached the final, but Yana sacrificed her health for this.
Despite this, she is ready to compete at the World Championships. On injections and character. Although it is possible that the doctors and coaching staff, based on the condition of the brilliant saber fencer, will decide to release her from the personal tournament.
FROM SYDNEY TO LEIPZIG
In addition to Yegoryan, Inna Deriglazova is also on the team. Current world champion and Rio triumphant in foil. Of course, high hopes are placed on her. True, at the same European Championship in Georgia, the Russian woman lost in the final to seven-time world champion Arianna Errigo. However, the fact that she reached the decisive match already speaks of our athlete’s good form. And Inna lost only one shot - 14:15. It is quite possible that because of this defeat Deriglazov will only be angrier in a sporting way.
Timur Safin is also included. One of the best foil players in the world. The team of saber fencers has super-veteran Alexey Yakimenko. The Olympic Games are not going well for him yet, but the 33-year-old athlete has already won eight times at the World Championships. And even in Leipzig. In 2005.
The team also includes the unfading 37-year-old Tatyana Logunova, whose collection includes, for example, a gold medal from the Olympic tournament in Sydney 2000. She won her first world championship in 2001. But after 2010, Tatyana did not win awards at world championships. What is not a reason to remind yourself loudly? And her friend in arms, two-time world champion Violetta Kolobova, won the recent European Championship in the individual championship and really wants to repeat the success in Germany.
But in addition to recognized and titled fencers, this team includes a number of young athletes who are still completely unknown to the general sports community. For example, this year's European junior champions Marta Martyanova and Sofia Pozdnyakova. One is 18 years old, the other is 20. They, like other debutants of major official tournaments, have a thirst for victory. It is, of course, naive to expect gold medals from them now, of course, but it’s definitely worth watching closely. It is possible that someone will be able to get people to talk about themselves in enthusiastic terms at the upcoming tournament.
We don’t want to fall out of the top three in the overall team competition. It will be difficult,” head coach of the Russian national team Ilgar Mamedov assessed the prospects for the World Championship. - From 2013 to 2016, we invariably won the team competition and got used to victories, although before that, since 2002, we had not won the Nations Cup for 11 years in a row. In general, we need to stay in the top three even now. And if we take first place, I will probably go crazy with happiness.
COMPOSITION OF THE TEAM RUSSIA
Sword. Men.
Vadim Anokhin (personal only), Nikita Glazkov, Sergey Khodos, Pavel Sukhov, Anton Glebko (team only). Women. Tatyana Logunova (individual competitions only), Violetta Kolobova, Daria Martynyuk, Tatyana Gudkova, Yana Zvereva (team competitions only).
Saber. Men. Kamil Ibragimov, Alexey Yakimenko, Veniamin Reshetnikov (personal only), Dmitry Danilenko, Vladislav Pozdnyakov (team only). Women. Yana Yegoryan, Anna Bashta, Valeria Bolshakova, Sofia Pozdnyakova, Anastasia Bazhenova (reserve).
Rapier. Men. Timur Safin, Timur Arslanov, Dmitry Zherebchenko, Alexey Cheremisinov (personal only), Dmitry Rigin (team only). Women. Inna Deriglazova, Adelina Zagidullina, Svetlana Tripapina, Marta Martyanova, Anastasia Ivanova (reserve).
FINAL CALENDAR
21 July.
Women. Rapier. Men. Saber.
July 22. Women. Saber. Men. Sword.
July 23. Women. Sword. Men. Rapier.
July 24. Women. Team foil. Men. Team saber.
July 25. Women. Team saber. Men. Team saber.
26 July. Women. Team sword. Men. Team foil.