Sixth place for the National saber team at the Sint-Niklaas World Cup

In the last team world cup in Belgium before the start of the Olympic qualification period, the National epee team made an excellent appearance with the 6th place, the best place a Greek team has ever taken in a similar event.

In the round of 32 of the team, the National women’s saber team with Dora Goundoura, Despina Georgiadou, Clairis Benou and Athenais Mavrikakis easily won 45-24 against the Brazilian team (FIE No22). Next came the crucial round of 16 match against the strong Japanese team. The Greek women performed their miracle again with a 45-43 victory in a rather difficult game as they qualified for the second consecutive event in the table of 8 after the 7th place in the “Acropolis” cup.

Then the Greek team came very close and in a second overtaking to enter the top four, but this time Italy (FIE No4) was able to get the victory. The Greek women started the match numbly with the score being 25-13 in favor of the Italian women. But then the Greek women were able to close the gap and tie the game at 36-36. The details in the last match between Crissio and Gundura decided the final result with a 45-43 defeat for Greece.

The National team did not “fall” psychologically after the defeat by Italy and was able to beat the German team (FIE No10) 45-38 in the first qualifying match for places 5-8. With this victory, he secured a place in the top six, while he also got revenge from Germany for the defeat in the table of 8 of “Acropolis”. The final showdown against Spain was also decided in the details after several upsets in the score. Greece was finally defeated 45-41 and definitively took 6th place in the competition. This is also the best result achieved by a Greek team in a world cup in the history of Greek fencing.

Goundoura, Georgiadou, Benou and Mavrikaki showed once again that our National Team is a force to be reckoned with that can stand up to any other team. With the 6th place in Belgium, Greece rose one place in the world ranking and is now at No. 11. We remind you that from April 3rd the Olympic qualification period officially starts and the first stop to collect points will be the world team cup in Batumi, Georgia on May 14th.

However, we also had distinction for the Greek colors in the refereeing since the Greek referee of the Olympic Games, Andreas Doubis, took over the position of the main referee in the team final, between Korea and Italy.

Taliotis and Theodoropoulou the cup winners in sword duel in Thessaloniki

The second pan-Hellenic dueling sword cup of the current competitive season was completed on the weekend of 18-19/3 in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, and the winners were Alexandros Taliotis (AXIA Cyprus) and Andriana Theodoropoulou (AO Ariston Paanias).

AS Xifomachos successfully organized the three days of games he had undertaken, under the auspices of EOX, at the Kalamaria Sports Complex. On Friday 17/3 the veterans cup took place, on Saturday 18/3 the men’s dueling sword cup took place and on Sunday 19/3 the women’s dueling sword cup took place.

In the men’s category, Alexandros Taliotis (VALUE Cyprus) emerged victorious over Savvas Kavvadias (PAO) in a final decided on the last point (15-14). Nikos Tsokas (OXIF) and Yannos Markopoulos (OS Kifisia) climbed to the third step of the podium. Tsokas maintained his position at No. 1 in the pan-Hellenic ranking of men with 260.95b. In 5th place, the winner of the first cup, Thodoris Avramidis (NGS Iraklis Thessaloniki), finished his presence, who follows in No. 2 of the pan-Hellenic ranking with 250.23b.

In the women’s cup, 19-year-old Andriana Theodoropoulou (AO Ariston Paanias) emerged as the cup winner for the first time, defeating Nefeli Rodopoulou (AOFIPS Irida) in the final with 11-10.

However, the 20-year-old Rodopoulou is the one who will rise to No. 1 in the pan-Hellenic ranking with 274.5 points, with Theodoropoulou and Nicole Chatzisarantou of AO Ariston Paianas following with 270.73b and 249.5b respectively. Irina Maurikiou (AXIA Cyprus) and Fani Varveri (AO Theseas Heraklion) climbed to the third step of the podium. The third and final men’s/women’s dueling sword cup for the 2022-2023 season has been organized by AO Ariston Paianas between 22-23/4 in Paiana.

Here are the detailed results from Thessaloniki:

Men

1. Alexandros Taliotis (Cyprus VALUE)

2. Savvas Kavadias (PAO)

3. Ioannis Markopoulos (OS Kifisia)

3. Nikolaos Tsokas (OXIF)

5. Theodoros Avramidis (NGS Iraklis Thessaloniki)

6. Konstantinos Karabasis (AO Ariston Peanias)

7. Filippos Hatzitipis (OXIF)

8. Dimitrios Makris (NGS Iraklis Thessaloniki)

Women

1. Andrianna Theodoropoulou (AO Ariston Peanias)

2. Nefeli Rodopoulou (AOFIPS Iris)

3. Fani Varveri (Theseas of Heraklion)

3. Peace of Mauritius (Cyprus VALUE)

5. Athena Myronidou (NGS Iraklis)

6. Eleftheria Mimigianni (ASAO)

7. Thomis Anastasiou (OXIF)

8. Panagiota Harmanidou (PAO)