Naples 2024: 9th Pergamalis and 15th Grollios in the youth swords!

The two athletes reached the round of 16 in Europe and finished 9th and 15th respectively. From the 12 Greek entries on the second day of competition in the youth epee, the youth epee and the junior dueling sword, six fencers made it to the top of the 64. Here is everything that happened by category:

Teenage swords

The four Greeks comfortably passed the pool stage. Nikos Pergamalis (AO Aspida) recorded 5/1 wins/losses, Thomas-Avraam Grollios (Aris Thessaloniki) recorded 4/2 wins/losses, Giorgos Fradellos (AO Apollon Vrilissios) recorded 2/3 wins/losses and Alexandros Papadopoulos (AO Aspida) recorded 2/4 wins/losses.

T64

In the round of 64 Papadopoulos was defeated 15-4 by the Bulgarian Nikola Gospodinov and ended his participation in the competition with the 53rd place. Fradellos was defeated 15-3 by Azeri Timur Khusnadinov and took 47th place in Europe. Grollios passed the obstacle of the Pole Anthony Flasak with 15-4 and Pergamalis qualified without a fight.

T32

Grollios prevailed in the last and decisive point (15-14) in the battle against the German Julian Maklakov and Pergamalis did the same with 15-14 against the Georgian Giorgi Urusatze. The two fencers ensured a double Greek presence in the table of 16 of the European championship.

T16

Pergamalis was defeated 15-14 by the Frenchman Roman Fraboule and took the 9th place in Europe. His athlete Nikolai Zaporochenko had an excellent presence in the event and together with Grollios continued the good Greek epee performances in the event after Alina Kouroussi’s 8th place in the juniors the previous day. Grollios was defeated in the battle for the eight by the Ukrainian Dmitry Zakhrebelny with 15-12 and won the 15th place in Europe. The 15-year-old athlete of Giorgos Tsouroutas and Panos Teliporanidis improved by one place compared to last year and has another year in the category.

Here are the statements of the two protagonists and their coaches:

Nikos Pergamalis: “In the days before the games, I was very skeptical about how to approach the games psychologically because I thought that I had covered the fencing part. The fight for the table of 16 was hard but I succeeded and I was very happy to give joy to the parents and fellow athletes of the national team who were supporting me at that moment. As for the last race, I was very disappointed with the fact that I was 1 point away from the top eight, especially with the way it was decided. On the other hand, I am very pleased with today’s performance, which I dedicate to my sister who was present at the stadium”.

Nikolai Zaporochenko: “It was a very good day, we saw very good fencing, of course there is always room for improvement. But I am happy with the results we got today with two Greeks in the sixteen. See you in Riyadh.”

Thomas-Avraam Grollios: “My day didn’t start as well as I had planned, but game by game I found my rhythm. My performance today is a motivation to continue the hard work and daily effort to achieve my goals, with the junior and youth world championship next. At the moment I’m thinking about the youth team, but also the individual and team participations that follow in this European championship”.

Giorgos Tsouroutas: “Thomas is an amazing character and is developing day by day into a very good athlete. I think that Greek fencing has a lot to expect from Thomas, as long as he remains grounded and focused on his goals, but also works very hard to achieve them. Psychology in championships is a big and integral part and it also needs work, mainly personal, but we are talking about an athlete who needs to fight every day with all adversities. Both I, as well as Panos Teliporanidis, but also his family are standing by his side to give him the resources to achieve what he dreams of. Thomas’ result is something that came with hard work, persistence, patience and daily struggle. For me, this fills me with strength and responsibility to become better and to offer him even more so that we can go one step higher, together.”

Greek Olympic referee Andreas Doubis took over to officiate the thrilling junior saber final between Italy’s Reale and Turkey’s Ayman with the former winning 15-14.

The positions of the Greeks:

9th – Nikos Pergamalis (AO Aspida)

15th – Thomas-Avraam Grollios (Aris Thessaloniki)

47th – Papadopoulos (AO Aspida)

53rd – Giorgos Fradellos (AO Apollon Vrilissio)