Richmond fencer Shaul Gordon had his best World Cup result of his career so far this past weekend in Gyor, Hungary, finishing 15th at the Sabre World Cup.
Gordon had a strong start, winning four of his five pool bouts, and then defeated Nicholas Pastore from Australia 15-8 and Arne De Ridder from Belgium 15-6 in the elimination rounds. This put Gordon into the top 64. There he defeated Arthur Zatco from France 15-10 and Miklos Pech from Hungary 15-12 to advance to the top 16. Gordon lost to South Korean, Hwang Byung-Yul, 15-10 to take 15th place overall.
“It’s a very good result and his first top 16 World Cup result of his career,” said Men’s Sabre National Coach, Benjamin Manano. “He fenced well all day. His hard work in training is paying off, but he needs to continue to work harder and harder to reach further. It’s a good first step in his development as a high performance athlete.”
Canada’s Men’s Sabre team of Gordon, Farès Arfa (Laval, QC), Philip Pitura (Regina, SK) and Ethan Wang (Vancouver, BC) finished in 15th place.
The team defeated Colombia 45-33 to advance to the top 16, where they lost to top ranked Russia, 45-19. The team lost several very close bouts in the placing bouts against Japan and Hong Kong, before defeating Belgium 45-33 to take 15th place.
“The objective of finishing top 16 was attained, but now we need to be able to go after top 12,” added Manano. “It was a satisfying weekend for men’s sabre overall and our next focus is the World Cup in Italy in February.”
