France’s Nelson Lopez Pourtier won the individual gold medal in men’s epee at the Challenge Monal in Paris, and Hungary won the men’s team gold. The event took place at the City’s Stade Pierre de Coubertin, with 282 individual fencers and 39 teams participating in the competition.
In individual men’s epee, Lopez Pourtier faced Kazakhstan’s Ruslan Kurbanov in the final round, winning with a 15-11 score. In the semifinal round, Kurbanov defeated France’s Alexandre Bardenet, 15-13, while Lopez Pourtier won against Hungary’s Mate Tamas Koch, 15-14. Of note, Bardenet beat teammate and Olympic champion Romain Cannone in the quarterfinals, 15-14, and Koch was the winner with Venezuelan Olympic champion Ruben Limardo Gascon in the round of 16, 13-9.
In men’s team epee, Hungary won against France in the final match with a 45-36 score. France beat Japan in the semifinal round, 45-36, while Hungary beat Ukraine, 45-42. The bronze medal went to Ukraine over Japan, 40-39.
Final rankings in individual men’s epee included Nelson Lopez Pourtier (FRA, gold), Ruslan Kurbanov (KAZ, silver), Alexandre Bardenet (FRA, bronze), Mate Tamas Koch (HUN, bronze), Romain Cannone (FRA), Mohamed Elsayed (EGY), Koki Kano (JPN) and Daniel Berta (HUN).
Final rankings in men’s team epee included Hungary (gold), France, (silver), Ukraine (bronze), Japan, Kazakhstan, Egypt, USA and Korea.
Source: FIE