Hungary vs. China – Gold Medal Match | Hong Kong 2026

Team China so this is it a gold medal match on the right hungry on the left This is saber It's a cutting weapon You can score with the length of the blade as well as the tip the hole of the target The whole of the upper body is the target area the arms the mask. It's a weapon of convention Picked up the attack by moving forwards buzz And if you're being attacked, you've got a couple of options. You can beat that attack from distance, and then if the attack finishes, it's then your turn to attack. You can parry, and then it's your turn to riposte, or you can steal a point, and you can hit without being hit. It's called a counter. We'll see some of them later on, no doubt. Can't hesitate on that one. A quick start for Team China. This accumulator, this ladder scoring system, it does mean, unlike Epic, it does mean that if you fall behind by a long way, let's say 7, 8 hits, you can very much be back in the game with one hit. Well, if you were watching the bronze medal match earlier, then you would have seen that, you would have seen how the USA were able to almost level the score by putting up scores of 13 on the board. Yeah, 13 and 12, I think. 13 and 12. 13 and 14, I think. It's like climbing a ladder. You have to stop at every fifth rung. China now have reached that level, but it doesn't mean that when you get to the next leg, when you get to leg 2, the stopping point is 10. It doesn't mean that China are going to make that stopping point. If Hungary get a march on, then their fence are in leg 2, which will be Anna Spies. She comes on. She's got an opportunity to score more than 5. So for China, it's Rao Xueyi. Momentum going. China's way. Assertive and aggressive. She started first there. She doesn't hesitate. Just changes lines. Doesn't bring the hand back. Yeah, Spies is going for a counter block, isn't she? So it didn't work out. We talked about learning. Finally there. There's a counter. You've got to learn in epi. You can learn in sabre. You just don't have as much time. That's the problem. So we talked about the counter. You have to hit without getting hit. You're stealing a point. It's not your turn. It doesn't land. It's parried. That's the parry. What was it? Malparry? Oh, did it go through? It did go through. It looked like it did. It did. Looks like the attack, but it's not. Blocked. China. Seriously, Graham, that was one of the best hits you've seen all day. Bang. Tap. Just on the shoulder. And then get out of the way long enough that the box times that out. You're running backwards almost as fast as you possibly can in Rao's position, and she's still got the wherewithal to say, Oh, close enough to get out of the way. Coming on for China, it's Zhang Xinyi and Luca Sucs. Sucs on for... She's trying to get the ball back here, Xinyi has got them out. Too fast, was it? Too... No. Zhang started that attack first. Sucs really scored many hits here. She stepped into distance there, drew her hand back, and Zhang is going direct to target. She's not messing around here. It's all in the middle. Eyes open off the line, but then as soon as she sees Sucs not doing anything, she's just diving in on top of her. Again, eyes open, but this time Sucs took her time. Anga. Fred. Anga. There's another one. Definitely stopped there, but the Chinese fencer didn't seize the opportunity. He's busy backing away. Anga. Not fast enough. Anga. Zhang. More intent off the line from the Hungarian. So critical now in sabre. The referees are told, you have to look at who is trying to score a hit. Eyes open off the line, this time a slightly different hit from Luca Sucs. And Zhang, Xinyi just changing her weapon. Anga got the lead. Zhang up. Misses there. Long attack is going to favour Zhang. It's difficult to defend. The opponent gets a big head of steam up, pushes you right back to the back of the piece. So close. So close to barrier pos for Sucs. Just smashed her sabre out of hand. Yeah, she can't believe it. Anga. Fred. Anga. Oh, that is a cracker. That is an absolute brilliant hit. That's the best hit I've seen at the entire World Championships. Look at that. I mean, there's no target to hit. And she finds that tiny millimetre. Brilliant. Anga. 15 is the target. Fred. Anga. Zhang is going. Sucs is looking so strong here. Look at that counter block. It looked like it was barrier pos, but it wasn't. It was a counter and then a block. Which is kind of like the same actions but in reverse. Yeah, that's a good way of describing it. You hit first and then you use your blade to block. With the parry, you do the block first and then you hit. And it's all within milliseconds. Anga. Fractions of milliseconds. It's so fast. Anga. Look at what she's doing. This is what the video... Oh, he inclined his hand out to China. Referee's having a look at him. Anga. No. Fred. Anga. That's clear. And he scores a level. Anga. Fred. Anga. Has done it. Another beautiful hit. Incredible. Incredible leg from Such. All that good work done by China in the first two legs completely turned around. I saw Such the other day at an individual competition. She was disappointed with her performance at the individual competition. She got the Red Hawks ready for this team competition. And she's proved it here. That is an incredible performance. Look at that. 12-3. Turning around that big deficit into a two-point lead. Now we haven't changed the names on the board so the referee's going to have to halt them a second while we update the scoreboard. It should be... This beast is coming on. Anga. Fred. Ali. Fred. Anga. Fred. Ali. Nice idea from Pan. Didn't get the timing right. Needed to be a tiny bit earlier and that would have been one light on the scoring apparatus. Anga. Fred. Ali. Anga. Fred. Ali. Anga. Ali. Fred. I don't want to say unforced errors but it's nerves causing the issue here. And the key thing, the reason I say that is because at some point one of them is going to unleash and when they do it could become a real burden. So I'll do that. Despite failing on that first attack Pan dominated the distance on that one. He went onto the upper leg. Anga. Fred. Ali. Anga. Fred. Ali. We need one more. And there it is. It's the target score of 20. And he maintained that two point lead in the previous leg. So it was five apiece on that one. Coming on for coming on for Hungary. It is Sugar Katinka Patai. Anga. Is this the substitution? This is the sub. So it is Wei Jiayi. Fred. Ali. Wei Jiayi. Coming in for her team mate. So China have made the call really early in this one but I wonder if she's just coming for this particular match against Patai. Patai calling for the video. Well Wei is 22 years old. Ranked 51 in the world. No way. So just doing an homage to Jeff there. She was part of the team that won the Asian Championships in 2024. Second. Anga. Fred. Ali. Sugar Patai. Number two in the world. 22 years old. A great season. Won the World Cup in Athens this year. And a silver medal in Algeria. And then a bronze in Lima. We get a look at the referee feed here. This is what the two referees are looking at. A tumble on the inside there. Talking with Baruta. And that was a good call. Jiayi. Well Patai has only won a medal here. Bronze in the individual competition. Ali. Sweet. Sweet comes Sugar. Anga. Fred. Ali. Patai. That's what we call us foilists. It's way too much hesitation. The way. Anga. Fred. Ali. Patai. And that is a beautiful attack. I'll tell you what. Patai this season has gone from a good fencer to an incredibly good fencer. She's great. She's learnt her craft in the last 18 months. She was there, there, there about. All of a sudden this season she looks like a killer. I mean look at that last hit. Unbelievably sharp. Late parry impossible. What she did is a second intention. She's teased her opponent to attack her and then just blocked out with full confidence. Really great fencing from Patai. Carrying a team. She will be the anchor. Brilliant. She opened the door and said come in. And then closed it in her face. The Chinese fencer went okay, thank you very much. And just slammed it in her face. So for China now it's Rao Xiuyi and Luka Such for Hungary. Here's an attack left for Hungary. For Such. Another impressive hit. This is that distance trap that we talked about all week. Success breeds success, right? This is a common phrase. In team fencing, if your team has an amazing lead before you go on, that drives your skill levels to the highest possible. And what we're seeing here from Such is fencing beyond what we would normally see. It's really, really good. And the issue for China now is that they are starting to drift away. Despite the fact that you can get back, it's going to be difficult if they're 10 hits behind. So what the referee's looking at here, talking to the floor referee, stepping off the back of the piece. It was a decision about when the hit was scored. Was it before or after she stepped out of the piece? First she stepped out of the piece, and then the hit would be given. Good referee. Fair to Rao. She's leading in this particular leg. The dominant fencer is Such. Full short. Beats the blade. Establishes the right of way. A lovely finish. Look at that. Came short. Well, as we were saying, in the individual, the closer you can get to not being hit, the better it is. Ah, that's a great hit as well. The preparation there, the Korean hop being used, was phenomenal. And look, watch. Three jumps and then the attack into what was a close line. Delight from the teammate. Now Rao has a chance to catch back up here. Oh, what a lovely attempt at a stop cut. A lovely attempt, but the attack came through. So watch the stop cut. The light came up so late though, didn't it? Stop cut there, but there is a time-out. So the theft you were talking about, the steal, I thought that was early enough. She went to steal a point, but then the police got her. The police being Lucas Such's attack that was already underway. So now with six on the board individually, then no matter what happens, Rao is going to close the gap by one. A minimum of one. Oh, yes, she does. The jump, I think Such went into her leg there. No, because she jumped. Yeah, so watch. The target now is too high. Yeah, hit her on the bum. I was going to say backside. We're both Lucas. He's got a bum. I don't think that's a bad word, is it? I like to say I'm going just in case it is. Definitely not out on this. Yeah, yeah. Well, Rao could level the scores here. Go into the lead, you never know. Three points. I think if they get to 28, it's okay. A long attack as well. Back, building, building, building. Look at the blade movement. Still building. Look at the blade movement. It's unbelievable. This is slow motion. Yes. Still threatening, still threatening. Moving forward all the time. Very, very slowly, but with the blade just moving around. Such had no idea where to place the parry when the attack finally finished. Oh, that's it. It's done. Looking for a parry there, Rao. Gets over the line. But only just. This is far from over. It was a good leg. Both, really, you've got to say. My feeling is that it was a better leg for the team. Yes, yes, but I mean, it was a catastrophic leg from Luka Such. But after a 12-3 run against Zhang, third leg, I think she will be disappointed. Well, she did a job with that 12-3 run and that's given her a massive plus score indicator still even though it didn't go her way in that. Yes, still plus six. So the score sits at 30-28. We're going into the final three legs now. Final third. We've seen the offense twice and the substitute. We talked about theft and counteraction. It was daylight robbery. Miki Klose. I've never seen him so animated. I'm used to seeing Miki Klose as a referee and where he's very calm, he's cool, collected. In the coaching box, it's a different man. Again, luring her in. She was nodding her head. Come and hit me here. That is, again, an incredible hit from Zhang. Look at her. On the back line, makes a miss by leaning backwards and then able to change direction on the hit. That is unbelievable. We've seen a couple of real caulkers in this match. Look at this. Make miss. Here you go. Miki Klose. He is not going to stop. Encouraging his team. Chinese venture on the right-hand side, just waiting too long. It's a 35, the target score. Hungary in five-point lead. A very difficult match for China. It's not impossible. It's not, but it's very difficult. They're going to be targeting this next fight and the thing is, while she had a tricky second fight, we know what she can do. She's going against Pan. Pan started brilliantly on the 5-2-1 against Batai, which was unexpected. So she is the highest scoring venture for Team China. Quick smack on the thighs. Don't wake up the quads. We're underway with the 8th. Such as started. Basically continued on the same progress that she made in her first and second legs. Got the shots in the box there. Tent. The intent from Hungary, from Nikos Kosa. And that's why, because when you get on that run, I was talking earlier about, if your teammate has a great leg and then you come on next, you kind of pick up. Looks like fear for China here. Waiting to see. Just stuttering steps. Couldn't get out of the way fast enough. Pan had made up her mind. She was going to step and start lunge. She's asking for a video review here. Let's have a look at this one, Karim. Felt to me like it was still attack from the left hand side. So I understand why. So she's called for the video. The referee saying that the attack was no. So it's about foot landing. We're seeing that again. So foot landing. That's why. Here we go. Watch the foot landing. That's the end of the attack. And before the hit scored. The referee has nailed that call. Hungary one point away from the commanding lead into the final leg. Short. The attack misses this time. It's not about the foot. It doesn't hit with the first action. It's the second action that lands. That's the distance trap. Oh! This is an amazing counter block. That is incredible. Honestly, I thought Pam was in huge trouble here. So that was the distance trap. And then. Counter block. Brilliant. That's three world class hits. I've seen in this match. Absolutely top draw fencing. Back into it. What could have been a mountain to climb. Now there's a possibility at least. And it's still not done yet. Brilliant. Great distance. Really brave. And on the attack here. Oh love. I said before. In the long attack. In men's foil. I used to say 70-75%. I think it's 80-85%. It's becoming like that in women's sabre as well. I'm not sure why we've got a video review here. Because surely Pam is going to give him this hit. It's not necessarily about the video review. It's about just giving yourself a bit of time. It's the chess game, right? So what you want to do. Is you want to put your hand on the paw. Before moving it. And then taking the bishop across. And that is exactly what Zuch did. He's always got it. On the line. Madame Pam. On the line. Paying it a little bit more time. Because China knew that was an attack on him. Every day of the week. There's no way. So Luka Zuch finishes with a big plus indicator. Even though she had a couple of scary legs. And Sugar Katinka-Batai on as the anchor for Hungary. And Rao Xiuyi for China. The scoring underway in final leg. Close line. So two quick points for China. Hungary are on the verge here. Absolutely. Whilst the score line is pretty tight. I've got to say Hungary have bossed this one. Attack falls short from Batai. Xiuyi is on the attack. Oh my goodness. That is a cracker. Look at this. The Thai would have been watching. And she learnt where that final action was going to come from. But to go for the target area she went for there. It was so brave. And then to block out. Brilliant. Two points away now from clinching the gold medal. Hungary. Ready. Go. Watch out. I'm ready for his right hand attack. Three. Watch out. Ready. Go. Could still be on for China. If China get the next hit, China are back in this. They need the next hit. Beautiful parry. Beautiful reaction. Now they're smiling in the box. One point away. Hungary can do this. Not yet though. Not yet. Last point is the hardest to score. China coming straight off the line here. Eyes open. And then landing the attack. So she's got to be really careful here. And they've done it. Hungary have done it. The team are on. They're celebrating. The referee needs to call them. And officially crown them the new world champions. They knocked out the French in the semi-finals. And now they are the gold medalists. Team Hungary, please close the jackets. To the line, please. Three-time world champions in four years. Slightly different line-up this time. Celebrating this one. Coach closer there. Former referee. Former top class referee. Departing his knowledge. Hungarian team.