2025 🇬🇪【世界劍擊錦標賽 格魯吉亞】男重 團體「GOLD MEDAL MATCH」JAPAN 🇯🇵 VS 🇭🇺 HUNGARY

There they are, lined up, ready to come out. We come, team from Hungary, followed by the team from Japan. Our team Hungary, it is Mac de Tomas Kok, Gergely Tsiklossi, Tibor Andrasov, and in reserve it is Sambor Castelli. Team Japan, Akira Komata, Masaru Yamada, Koki Kano, and in reserve it is Seiya Asami. Our officiating crew for this gold medal match, Mikhail Pagiev takes his last ride here in this gold medal match. Yes. He'll be joined by Adrian Speakman from Great Britain, and our floor judges, our assessors, Denis Ostrovsky of Estonia, Aleska Alilar of Venezuela. So it will be Tibor Andrasov to open for Hungary, Gergely Tsiklossi to close, and it will be Koki Kano to open and close for Japan. Well, Japan is ranked number one, Hungary's ranked number two. However, in Paris last year, Hungary took the gold, Japan took the silver. In the World Cup circuit this year, the five events, Hungary won three, Japan won the other two. In the first two of the year, Hungary beat Japan, so they seem to have their number the last three times they've competed. In the semifinals, Japan just got by Kazakhstan. They were down by a huge margin, and then Kano had a gigantic leg, and basically, he scored 25 of the 42 touches. Over 60% of Japan's touches was Kano, your individual champion and Olympic champion as well. For Hungary, a couple of noteworthy things. Androsovsky came off the bench in the second, and he had an 8-5 leg over Middleton, and then 5-1 over Bardinet in his second leg, plus seven off the bench. But what was really interesting in that match, I think what turned it around was early, like the third or fourth leg, was when Kok came out and beat Billa 6-1 in his leg. But it wasn't just 6-1. Four of the six touches were on Billa's toe. Changed the whole momentum. Well, and I think I mentioned earlier that I spoke to Monta Thomas Kok afterwards, and I said, did you have six foot hits in that match? And he said, yes, but I don't know how. It was amazing, really. So first up, Androsovsky v. Kano. Adrian Speakman to referee the first two legs in this nine-leg match. Androsovsky with a powerful attack in the middle there. Kano beat, steps in, gets the hit. There's a minute of no touches being scored, so they get P-yellow cards, passivity. Oh, they're playing this opening leg quite cagey. Yes, but they each scored one quickly, and then they sort of back off a little. Double. Kano has to use his quick footwork to get inside the longer distance of Androsovsky, who's much taller and longer, as you can see. We're under 10 seconds, and Kano backs out, and we end the first two apiece. Not much to report on that one. No, it's Gergely Csiklosi on in the second for Hungary. He'll face Akira Komata. You know, when Hungary won the gold in Paris last year, it was Hungary's first Olympic gold medal in men's epee team since the Munich games in 72. Oh, wow. I was there for that as a 15-year-old, but I don't remember that. And the last time Hungary won the world title in men's epee team was in Budapest in 2013. Yeah, yeah. I was there. And that was also Hungary's last medal in this event. I was there too. Amazing. Wow. And Japan's only podium finish in this event was at the World's, they took bronze in 2022. I was there. We're getting really close to passivity time here. Yep. That'll be a pea red. Oh, just in the nick of time. A lot of excitement. Japan team box. Lots of times we see these matches stay very low, close to the vest, until someone opens up the two-touch differential, then it picks up. Kamata took six in the individual. Tsuklose, silver medalist, just missed winning the gold in overtime. Nice hit to the foot there from Tsuklose. Also Tsuklose with the reach advantage over Kamata. Kamata takes the blade. Tsuklose gonna try and get one back? It's a good double by Kamata because Tsuklose had the blade and had him for the riposte. Parry. Riposte good double by Kamata. Well, that will do it for the second leg. Five for Japan. Four for Hungary. So two in it for Tsuklose, one of those on a double. Three for Kamata. We go to the third and it will be Mate Thomas Kokk on for Hungary to face Masaru Yamada. Yamada took the bronze and Kokk had a tough one. He took 35th, knocked out in the 64. Well, Kokk looked pretty unbeatable in the semifinal. He was really in the zone with his point, especially those toe touches. Let's see what he has in store for Masaru Yamada or if it's the other way around. Yeah, we're getting awfully close to a passivity call here. Oh, Yamada gets the blade. Oh, that's nice from Yamada. Yeah, once he got the blade, it was over. Yamada coming out. That's a riposte. Quick animated style. That's a big one. Yamada strong on the blade, makes the parry, riposte behind his head. Nice. Now you see the arm covering the target there, which is okay in epi. You can't use the arm, but you can cover the target because you can hit the person on the arm. The last two have been real statements by Yamada, strong on the blade. As we've seen him in this competition, both in individual and in team, he starts really slowly, and then he gets into that quick hit aggressive stance, and he's straight into it here. Oh my. Quick strike by Yamada there. That's the blade and hits. That was a gentle taking of the blade. We've said this many times today, that you go for a hit to the foot, you are in a very vulnerable position. Well, with touches coming at a premium here in this world championship match, this 3-0 leg so far is gigantic for Yamada. Absolutely. Well, Matei Thomas-Koch is going to back out. Probably a good idea because Yamada's got his number so far in this leg. Time runs out here in the third. Eight for Japan, four for Hungary, and three in that for Masaru Yamada, nil point for Matei Thomas-Koch. Hungary can ill afford that. Didn't expect that. Tibor Andrasovic back on for Hungary. He'll face Akira Kamada. Androsovic was 2-2 with Kano in the opening leg, and Kamada took the lead 3-2 over Sokolosy in the second leg. Androsovic pushing, trying to set this up. A little bit of an advantage here. It's going to count. Being challenged by Androsovic. No body contact yet. Hard to see from that angle. Referee's coming. Pagiev says it's a good touch. There he is. This is his last hurrah. And Kamada, Hungary's had Japan's number head-to-head, beating them in Paris in the first two World Cups this year. But so far in this match, Japan has their number. Biggest lead of six. Things are looking pretty ropey here for Hungary. That's the first single leg that I can remember in a long time. They didn't have any single lights in the third leg. They didn't have any lights in the third leg. That's good! He attacked from way out of distance. And Kamada was able to retreat and parry and make the riposte as Androsovic is going off the side. Parry. It's an immediate riposte without hesitation, so it counts. Japan has owned the blade so far. Uh, yeah. Oh my. Japan is just all over this. Not even a double for Androsovic there. It's sort of... They can do no wrong, Japan, right now. Seven, biggest lead. Time's going to run out here in the fourth. 13-6. And five in that for Kamada. Two for Androsovic. And I tell you what's not a gold medal scoreline. 2-2, 0-2. This is correct. In the last two legs, it's been 8-2 for Hungary. Yeah. Or 2-8. For Japan, rather. Yeah. Okay. So Mata Thomas Kok back on for Hungary. Scoreless in his first appearance. And now he's going to face Koki Kano. Well, he's got to do a better job than the first leg. There are some fencers who excel as individuals, but not in the team. We see it from time to time. Yeah. But in the case of Kano, he's a superman as individual. He's superman in the team. That may be why he's world number one. Yeah. There's a good one. Maybe that was a hit to the foot, wasn't it? No? No, just a plain vanilla hit to the mask. But you got to believe he's going to try to be... Well, there was a feint to the foot. Yeah, he'll be setting it up. Maybe this will get him started. There's the feint to the toe. With this significant lead, there's no reason for Kano to take unnecessary risks. Okay, there's another for... Vermont to Thomas Kok. But on the other hand, he's been hit twice. Seeding ground going to his side of the piece a little too easily. Let's see if he picks it up with the footwork a little bit. Whether it was a feint or not, it left him wide open. Yep. And Kano was all over it. It's definitely a better performance in this leg. And the reason for that is Kok is pushing Kano to his end of the piece three times. He's picked him off. Kano has to be a little bit more aggressive here. Well, even if, you know, Vermont to Thomas Kok doesn't make a big addition to the Hungarian scoreline, he's done something else that's very important. He made a dent. Well, he made a dent, but he's kept Koki Kano to one hit. Now, that may change, but it does change. Kano picked up the blade with the counter six, made the riposte, didn't hit, and then made the remise. There's the counter six miss, and there's the remise. The Japanese fencers are just stronger on the blade so far. Yeah. They've owned it. Well, I just, I was trying to figure out why Marce Thomas Kok went to the floor. Maybe he took a, because we couldn't see where he got the hit. But 15-9, so only two in that for Koki Kano. Three for, not to Thomas Kok. We go to the sixth, and it will be Gergely Shiklosi on to face Masaru Yamada. Yamada, of course, went 3-0 against Kok in the third. Shiklosi went 2-3 against Kamada in the second. Yamada out there doing what he does best, and that's to attack the blade. Shiklosi waiting patiently, sees the opening, and gets the hit. Hungry because they're behind. All three fencers are pushing. They have to. And Japan is very comfortable on their side there, on their end of the piece. Big attack there by Yamada. Yamada has such amazing hand speed that it's almost impossible to defend against when he's in this mode. Went for the toe, got hit in the mask. Shiklosi made the feint to toe, and he got hit in the mask. I think that that might not be a good idea against this team, against this Japanese team, because he didn't even get halfway there before he got hit in the mask. Oh, he got picked off again in the biggest differential of eight. This is getting away from Hungary here, two-thirds of the way through almost. Okay, Shiklosi picked one off there on the hand. Shiklosi is in very close distance here to Masaru Yamada. Well, he made it pay. Two in a row. Can he get another? Yo. Oh, double. Actually, Shiklosi was fortunate to get that double there. You talked about Yamada's hand speed. What about his foot speed? Well, there is that. That will do it for the 6th, 19-13, so four apiece. We go to the 7th, and it will be Akira Kamata back on for Japan to face Thomas Koch. And if Hungary has any hope at all, they've got to start racking up some touches. The only leg that they had a fencer headcock was 3-2 over Kano. They need to have another one right now. He says, come at me. Just keeps his arm out. Kamata had him there. Nope. He took the blade. Yep. They just seem a step quicker than Hungary right now. Stronger on their feet and stronger with the blade. It's a deadly combination. This is why they're number one. That said, it's only 5. Yep. A little bit of disappointment there. Oh, looked like Koch had it, and he didn't. Looked like he just missed. Yeah, just missed. That was telegraphed a little bit, but looks like he still had the timing on that. Oh, that's a good one. One more, and you'll see you'll breathe a little life into the Hungarian team box. They're just waiting to get excited there, but up until now, haven't been able to. There's another. So this is the closest we've been. When was Mata Thomas Koch, was it 2023 when he was world champion? Not sure. Well, yeah, don't worry about it. Meanwhile, his last two attacks have been to the inside target, to the stomach. Not to the wrist, not to the shoulders. Attacking right to the body. That's a riposte. Wow. He gave him a yellow card also. The yellow card is for Cora Cora that he provoked body contact to avoid being hit in the riposte. Let's watch on the left. He hit him, which you're allowed to do, but not to prevent the opponent from scoring a riposte. That's a double whammy because you got hit. You didn't prevent it and you got the card. He got that one back. One more and this worm is going to start to turn a little bit here. He went for it again and didn't get it. He had it down to four. Now we're back to five. Nice one there. He got the parry and the riposte. Riposte was on his knee, on Kamada's knee. It doesn't matter where it was. And another one. And this is the spark that Hungary needed. It's a three-point match. Wow. All the way from eight to three. Maybe he's backing off saying, I've done my job and he has. And that will do it. Seven for Makteh Thomascock. Four for Akira Kamada. 23-20. We go into the eighth and penultimate leg. It is Tibor Androspy on for Hungary to face Masaru Yamada of Japan. So we have a ball game here with two legs to go. You have to give Cock credit because he lost the first leg, his third leg, but his first against Yamada, three-nothing. I know. So give him credit for coming back like that. I just think where we would be if he had scored. So that 7-4-1. Attacked by Yamada. He attacked to the shoulder. Another one. Back to five. All that momentum in the first minute here snuffed out. Yamada is so fast. You've got to be fast too. He's fast. He's very fast. Androspy steps into distance. And you look at Yamada, you look at Androspy, and it looks like he's in slow motion. And although he hasn't been very active in this match, there's still Kano to come. That counts. The theme of this match has been that Japan has owned Hungary's blade. All these ripostes. Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. That's it. Back to six. Hungary in danger of having two legs with no points scored. So all the hard work of Thomas Koch out the window here. And Yamada had every right with the three-point lead to sit back and let Androspy commit himself and look for mistakes. He didn't do that. He went for it. I think Androspy's had enough. Yamada had his number here in this leg. Yeah, this is going to do it for the eighth leg. Disastrous. 27-20. And Tibor Androspy, nil point in the eighth leg. We go to the ninth. It will be Gergely Csiklosi to close for Hungary. Koki Kano to close for Japan. Well, it's only appropriate that we end with these two because they were gold and silver in the individual. And one more shot to go at each other. Back to the biggest differential of eight. Big hill to climb here for Csiklosi. Double. Another double. Japan won Olympic gold in Tokyo, but they've never won the world's. And they're getting close to it right now. I would say that, yeah. Rejected walk by Csiklosi back to the on-guard line. Double. No help for Hungary. Too quick. Too quick on their feet. Too strong on the blade. Little flat footed there with Csiklosi. Biggest differential of 10. Only inside two minutes. That's after they reverse. That's not going to count. Disappointment there on the Hungarian team box. Well, yes, but. Very serene looking in the Japanese box. The lull before the big celebration. I mean, this is just painful for Hungary. As we said during the week and some other matches that were a little lopsided. Yeah, sometimes you just got to tip your hat for the team that was doing the lopsided. I mean, their Japan's just all over them. Since the very beginning. This has been a flawless, flawless performance from Japan. Other than a few moments by Kok, that's been pretty much it. Well, he said he said when he came off the piece, he had left Hungary in a very good position. And that was followed up by a scoreless eighth. Beat, beat. Hungary, which had won three of the five World Cups and the Olympic gold and had had Japan's number head to head. Not tonight. A minute to go in the ninth and final leg and so close he keeps running off hits. But so does Koki Kano. Kano on his way to double gold here in Tbilisi. Wow, solid gold. Everything, solid gold, solid gold. Everything working. Quicker on the beat and stronger on the blade. All match. So close he is keeping at it, but. That's a, that's a 12 point ditch. And Kano can take it to 45. There's plenty of time. But there's not plenty of time for Siklosi to come back. No. No, they've been left in the dust. Tough clap from the bench. No, you gotta, you know, A, you have to give Japan credit for just being flawless. And you also have to give credit to Gergely Siklosi for refusing to give up. Yeah, he'll go home with a gold and a silver here in Tbilisi. Well. A gold and a silver. Two silvers, isn't it? Oh, two silvers, yeah. It's getting late in the day, David. But you still won it. Thanks for correcting me. My pleasure, entirely. Thank you. Two silvers, not bad. Let's see if Koki Kano can get two more hits. Not that it matters. There's one. The double will do it. 45. 35. And the golden, golden team of Japan is our 2025 men's epee team world champion. And what an amazing performance. Great performance. And Yamada goes home with a bronze and a gold as well. A bronze? Bronze and individual. Oh, Yamada. Yamada, yeah. So 15 points in that for Siklosi. 18 for Kano. And all I can say is, you know, respect to Japan. That was... They were great. And everybody's coming over and shaking his hand. Great career. Japan team has got the flag out. And the photographers are crowding around. And I mean, Hungary, you know, Hungary finished with a silver medal at the world championships. And they just faced a team that on this day... Was better. Yeah. That's it. So we'll take a really quick break just to get ourselves set up for our next gold medal match. There it is. It's official. Very official. Japan 45-35 over Hungary. And they are our 2025 world champions. See you in a bit.