Spain Scores Upsets in Madrid

Spain took the idea of a home court advantage to heart as Fernando Casares won the individual title and Spain knocked off the top seed in the team event at the Villa de Madrid.

The Villa de Madrid Men’s Saber World Cup was something of a mixed bag this year. The event was lacking a few familiar faces as countries are trying out some of their younger athletes to determine who looks good for the Rio Olympic Cycle, plus some athletes took the event off due to injuries.

Noteworthy absences included Aldo Montano (ITA), Rares Dumitrescu (ROU), Alexei Yakimenko (RUS), and 2012’s Olympic Bronze Medalist Nikolay Kovalev (RUS).

Despite the absence of some of last season’s top athletes, the final 8 of the event was mostly the usual suspects. France’s Bolade Apithy and Max Hartung of Germany took 7th and 8th. Our own Daryl Homer took down his third consecutive 6th place finish (Following finishes in Plovdiv and London) and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Diego Occhiuzzi (ITA) took 5th. Nicolas Limbach (GER), and reigning Olympic Gold Medalist Aron Szilagyi (HUN) split bronze.

Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS), currently ranked 9th in the world, filled in for the absent Kovalev and Yakimenko admirably – bringing home the silver.

Madrid’s gold medalist – the real upset of the event – was won by Fernando Casares of Spain, stepping into the top-8 for the first time since a 5th place finish in 2009. After finishing the 2011/2012 season ranked 106th, Casares battled his way past Olympic silver and gold medalists Occhiuzzi and Szilagyi, before confronting Reshetnikov in the final and, ultimately, winning gold 15-9.

Watch the Gold Medal Bout here:

Quarter-Final Bouts:
Szilagyi (HUN) def. Apithy (FRA): 15-11
Casares (ESP) def. Occhiuzzi (ITA): 15-13
Reshetnikov (RUS) def. Homer (USA): 15-11
Limbach (GER) def. Hartung (GER): 15-14.

Semi-Finals:
Casares (ESP) def. Szilagyi (HUN): 15-14
Reshetnikov (RUS) def. Limbach (GER): 15-12

Gold:
Casares (ESP) dev. Reshetnikov (RUS): 15-9

Team Event

In the team event, Spain continued to get a home town bounce as they knocked out top seeded Russia 45-41 in the opening round of the team event. This paved the way for 9th seed Hungary, who seized on the opening by taking down Spain 45-29 and then went on to defeat Germany (45-33) and China (45-31) to win the team gold.

The United States came in as 7th seed and won their first round match vs. Canada 45-28. The US then lost to #2 Romania 45-42. In the placement rounds, the US defeated Ukraine 45-40 and then ended at 6th place when Italy won out 45-37.

Final Standings: Madrid Team World Cup

Final Standings: Villa de Madrid Individual Men’s Sabre