SEOUL, Korea, May 4-6, 2024 – Spain’s Araceli Navarro and Egypt’s Ziad Elsissy won gold medals at the 2024 SK Telecom Seoul Women’s and Men’s Sabre Grand Prix. The event took place in the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium with 135 women and 148 men participating in the competition.
Navarro faced France’s Sarah Noutcha in the final bout of women’s individual sabre, winning with a 15-13 score. In the semifinal round, Noutcha won against teammate Sara Balzer, 15-11, while Navarro defeated teammate Lucia Martin-Portugues, 15-13. Of note, in the table of 16, France’s Cecilia Berder beat Japan’s two-time world champion Misaki Emura, 15-11, and Navarro won against Ukraine’s four-time world champion Olga Kharlan, 15-8.
Elsissy faced Georgia’s Sandro Bazadze in the final bout of men’s individual sabre, winning with a 15-13 score. Bazadze won against USA’s Colin Heathcock in the semifinal round, 15-13, while Elsissy defeated USA’s Filip Dolegiewicz, 15-14. Of note, in the quarterfinals Dolegiewicz beat Korea’s world champion Sanguk Oh, 15-12, and in the table of 32 he defeated teammate and world champion Eli Dershwitz, 15-10.
Final rankings in women’s individual sabre included Araceli Navarro (ESP, gold), Sarah Noutcha (FRA, silver), Sara Balzer (FRA, bronze), Lucia Martin-Portugues (ESP, bronze), Manon Apithy-Brunet (FRA), Despina Georgiadou (GRE), Yoana Ilieva (BUL) and Cecilia Berder (FRA).
Final rankings in men’s individual sabre included Ziad Elsissy (EGY, gold), Sandro Bazadze (GEO, silver), Filip Dolegiewicz (USA, bronze), Colin Heathcock (USA, bronze), Sanguk Oh (KOR), Sebastien Patrice (FRA), Bolade Apithy (FRA) and Adham Bahgat (EGY).
Complete and official results for this event may be found here on the FIE web site. For more exciting world fencing news and features, check out the YouTube FIE Fencing Channel.