Photo: Egypt’s Mohammed Hamza (2nd right) and the other medalists in Mexico…photo courtesy FIE
By George Aluo
Egypt’s Mohammed Hamza has won the individual men’s foil World Cup decided last weekend in Acapulco, Mexico.
According to a media release by FIE, fencing world governing body, Hamza defeated Hong Kong, China’s Olympic champion, Ka Long Cheung to achieve the feat. Hamza won the final bout with a 15-10 final score.
The United States of America (USA) showed class in the team event winning the gold medal.
The three-day event which ran from May 5-7 took place at the Palacio Mundo Imperial, with 202 individual fencers and 27 teams participating.
To reach the final, Cheung won against USA’s Gerek Meinhardt, 15-7, while Hamza defeated Italy’s Tommaso Marini, 15-8 in the semi finals.
Of note, in the quarterfinals, Cheung beat France’s two-time world champion Enzo Lefort, 15-10, and in the table of 16, Meinhardt won against Italy’s Olympic champion Daniele Garozzo, 15-14, and Marini defeated USA’s world champion Miles Chamley-Watson, 15-8.
In the men’s team foil event, USA won against Italy in the final match, 45-41. In the semifinals, Italy defeated France, 45-40, while USA beat Japan, 45-28. The bronze medal went to France over Japan, 45-43.
Final rankings in men’s individual foil included Mohamed Hamza (EGY, gold), Ka Long Cheung (HKG, silver), Tommaso Marini (ITA, bronze), Gerek Meinhardt (USA, bronze), Enzo Lefort (FRA), Nick Itkin (USA), Chun Yin Ryan Choi (HKG) and Jie Xu (CHN).
Final rankings in men’s team foil included USA (gold), Italy (silver), France (bronze), Japan, Korea, Hong Kong-China, Poland and Egypt.