World Combat Games - Gu and Erba Earn Golds

St. Petersburg - Italy and Korea take first golds of the 2013 World Combat Games fencing events.** Carolina Erba (ITA) defeated Inna Deriglazova (RUS) 13-12 in overtime to take the women’s foil title at the 2013 Sportaccord World Combat Games. Deriglazova lead for most of the match, with a 4-3 lead after the first period and an 8/6 lead at the end of the second. In the 3rd period, Erba was able to tie the score at 10-10. Deriglazova extended her lead up to 12-10 but then Erba fought back to tie the score 12-12 and force an overtime minute. In the men’s sabre event, Gu Bongil (KOR) opened up with the first touch of the bout against Tiberiu (ROU)** and led for most of the match. Dolniceanu took a brief lead at 3-2, but Gu scored the next two touches to gain a 4-3 lead. The fencers went into the minute break with Gu holding onto a one point lead at 8-7. After the break, Gu broke the match open with 3 straight touches for a 4 point lead and kept the pressure on to win 15-10. In the men’s sabre event, 11 of the top 12 fencers competed. The match for bronze was close, tied at 13:13. However, Aron Szilagyi (HUN) was extremely focused and made two points in a row, much to the disappointment of Veniamin Reshetnikov (RUS) and the Russian spectators. In women`s foil, Carolina Erba (ITA), Carolin Golutbitskyi (GER), Inna Deriglazova (RUS) and Jeon Hee Sook (KOR) made it to the semi-finals. Deriglazova who had been in amazing shape the whole season, defeated Golubitskyi 15:6 in the semi-final and Erba won against Jeon 12:11 to qualify for the final. 2012 Olympic Champion Aron Szilagyi (HUN) said about winning the bronze medal:

“Three months after the World Championships in Budapest I am not in the best shape. I had only a short preparation and just hoped to fence well. The competition was very strong, 11 fencers of the top 12 in the world ranking were present. I was happy to beat KIM (KOR) in the quarterfinals and I am not sad to have lost to GU (KOR) in the semis. I had no answer to his actions today, he was much better. However, I learned a lot and hope that this won’t be the case in the future. Now, I am happy with my bronze medal.”

Video: Men’s Sabre Hightlight:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnuQf7gM1Mc