Azzurre da sogno in Belgrade: it’s gold in foil
Italy gold in Belgrade
The Italian women’s foil team restarts the 2022/2023 World Cup just as it had closed the last season: in Belgrade Alice Volpi, Francesca Palumbo, Martina Favaretto, and Erica Cipressa climbed once again to the top step of the podium, proving that they are the team to beat. CT Stefano Cerioni’s girls, first in the world rankings and reigning European and world champions, dominated their opponents even without captain Arianna Errigo, who was unavailable in this first event.
The test of the Azzurri started on velvet in the round of 16 with the 45-14 success against Hong Kong, then followed by the victory against Spain with the score of 45-33. In the semifinals, the Italian quartet eliminated France 45-41 and, in the final, beat the United States with a peremptory 45-22. The women’s foil World Cup weekend thus ends with an encore of the Inno di Mameli: already yesterday in the individual competition it was Alice Volpi who won, and with her, on the third step of the podium, was also Francesca Palumbo. This success also represents the ninth Italian podium of the very rich World Cup weekend: in addition to the results of the foil fencers already mentioned, in fact, yesterday also came the victories of Martina Criscio in women’s saber, Tommaso Marini in men’s foil and Giulia Rizzi in women’s epee, but also the third places of Luca Curatoli in men’s saber and Chiara Mormile in women’s saber. Earlier today, however, foilists Daniele Garozzo, Tommaso Marini, Alessio Foconi and Guillaume Bianchi finished third in the men’s foil team event. Closing out the competition program will be the two team epee competitions underway in Vancouver.
WORLD CUP – FEMALE TEAM FENCING – Belgrade (Serbia), Dec. 11, 2022
Final
ITALY b. USA 45-22
Final 3/4 place
France – Japan
Semifinals
ITALY b. France 45-41
USA b. Japan 45-22
Quarters
ITALY b. Spain 45-33
France b. Poland 42-36
Japan b. Ukraine 42-32
USA b. China 36-29
Table of 16
ITALY b. Hong Kong 45-14
Ranking (21): 1. ITALY, 2. USA, 3. France, 4. Japan, 5. China, 6. Spain, 7. Poland, 8. Ukraine
