The Hellenic Fencing Federation organized with great success, once again, the World Sword Cup “Acropolis” in Athens, in cooperation with the World Fencing Federation and with the support of the Attica Region.
On the second day of the games, Greece celebrated the bronze medal won by Dora Goundura in the individual. On the third and last day, the team matches took place, which brought a great pleasant surprise.
The National team with Despina Georgiadou, Dora Goundoura, Clairi Benou and Athenaida Mavrikakis won the seventh place in the event, a historic result for our country. It is the second time that the National Women’s Saber team has entered the top eight of an international event after the sixth place in the European Championships in Antalya in 2022, but it is the first time in a world cup.
It is a great success for the “blue and white”, which also gives hope for the difficult goal of qualifying for the Olympic team for Paris in 2024, which will actually start in Tbilisi next May.
The Greek quartet started their effort in the round of 32 with a victory against the Hong Kong team (FIE No20) with 45-33. Then, he made the big surprise and took the victory in the crucial meeting with the Hungarian team, the world champion and No3 in the world ranking, with a score of 45-41. Goundoura, Georgiadou and Benou played excellent fencing against Batai, Marton and Katona and put Greece in the top eight National teams of the tournament.
Then, the Greek team could not overcome and was defeated by Germany (FIE No12) 45-25 to enter the top four. A short time later, they faced Bulgaria (FIE No9) in the first qualifying match for places 5-8. In a match with many twists and turns and controversial phases, the Bulgarian team prevailed with 45-44 and Greece was sent to its last match against Azerbaijan for the 7-8 places.
There, the Greek women prevailed over the Azeris with 45-29 and celebrated the final result together with the Greek audience that had filled the OAKA fencing hall since the morning to watch their efforts and applaud them at every point.
The gold medal in the team event was eventually won by the very strong French team, who beat South Korea in the grand final 45-29. Italy climbed to the third step of the podium, which beat Germany 45-40.
The final eight:
1. France
2. Korea
3. Italy
4. Germany
5. Bulgaria
6. Spain
7. Greece
8. Azerbaijan
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