Home – Sports – Men’s doubles duel team wins Paris Olympics title with a feat not seen in 52 years

Before today, the last time our duelists won a medal as a team was at the 2016 Rio Olympics, when Géza Imre, András Rédli, Péter Somfai and current national team captain Gábor Boczkó took third place. The team then lost to France in the semifinals (40:45) and then defeated Ukraine by two points. (39:37).

This time, however, the dream feat was achieved against world leaders France. With superb counterattack skills, At least 30 of the 45 goals scored in the last third of the game went to the home team. Our team won eight of the nine ace goals, and only the penultimate pair ended in a draw. This determined that the team’s success eight years ago would definitely be surpassed. Tibor Andrasfi, Matt Koch, David Nagy, Gergely Sikolosi Quartet.

The only question is whether this weapon will achieve the kind of success that we have not seen for 32 or 52 years. In 1992 in Barcelona, ​​the quartet of Ferenc Hegedűs, Ernő Kolczonay, Iván Kovács, Krisztián Kulcsár and Gábor Totola played in the final of the team in the weapon for the last time. In the final – although the competition was organized very differently than it is today – they were defeated by members of the United Team of the successor states of the USSR (CIS), which is why they became silver medalists.

For the gold medal, we have to look back to the sports history books twenty years ago: in 1972, Sándor Erdős, Csaba Fenyvesi, Győző Kulcsár, István Osztrics and Pál Schmitt reached the Olympic final against Switzerland.

Before the win over France, Siklosi announced to the journalists who questioned him exactly the tactics that brought him victory. He was more cautious against the defending Olympic champion. When we asked three hours before the final what the tactics were for the gold medal hopefuls in the final, he said that, apart from the fact that they should not lose rhythm, the task of the next few hours would be to discuss tactics in addition to the final analysis. However, something tells me that he is lightning fast against Asians, who are shorter than us and therefore have a lower center of gravity, including the Asians who won the individual event. Kano Kojwal, Something similar, extremely cold-blooded, waiting and watching but fighting back with brutal precision, may be needed again.

Three men plus a Hungarian Musketeer

The fact that they managed to beat the Japanese in several World Cup matches during the qualifying period may give reason for cautious optimism. For example, at the end of February in Heidenheim, with the points from beating their gold medal (37:30), our team’s trip to Paris was also mathematically certain. Although it is also true that the Asians won the last encounter, which was 5-8 in Tbilisi at the end of March. They won with 45:35 and fought for the place.

During the day, Japan suffered more than us in both games. They beat Venezuela 39:33 in the quarterfinals and started the eighth game against the Czech Republic at a disadvantage. Then Kano reversed the situation with a 6:1 victory and finally Jamada Masaru The final match ended in 45 minutes and 37 seconds. Before the final, an important detail was promised. The Japanese team used up their only substitution opportunity in the quarterfinals, and their left-handed veteran entered the top 16 in singles. Minobe Kazuharu instead Small and bright send.

Here, David Nagy is still waiting to be deployed, but it seems doubtful that his moment will come. His teammates have been so good all day that there is really no reason to make a substitution. But the cruelty of the Olympic announcement is that the player who does not stop during the competition does not get a medal, even if he has done everything to prepare, played a key role in the qualification, or just tried to ensure the necessary calm and encouragement of others. However, this team has been fighting side by side for so long, especially the trio of Andrasfi, Nagy, and Koch, who won the World Cup twice as teenagers, that it is not difficult to imagine that they will take risks and one of them will even pass. In the most intense situation, then it is the position of the opponent – win or lose, but all four can stand on the podium.

The secret of the afternoon’s success was also reflected in the final

Giammada and Sikolosi went toe-to-toe in the opening minutes, with both men getting cautioned for passivity. After a minute and a half, Giammada knocked Sikolosi’s blade down and then struck the 2019 World Champion just below the right shoulder to take the lead. Our Terminator didn’t let the Japanese off, however, as he equalized within half a minute and then stabbed Yamada in the chest to take the lead. (1:2). The first trump card gave Hungary a slight lead in a closely fought battle. Koch, who finished second, also chose cautious tactics, mainly – as we correctly expected based on the results so far – he fought with the new individual Olympic champion Cano from the last third of the match. However, the Hungarian fencer still delivered the first blow.

During the games, the crowd at the Grand Palais went into a small frenzy for a while, not because of what happened in Pashtun and Hungary’s fourth win, but because they watched on their recycled mobile phones Leon Marchand’s 200m individual medley, where the excellent swimmer won his fourth gold medal, an Olympic record, at the Paris La Défense Stadium a few kilometers away. They launched the Marseillaise almost simultaneously with the new Japanese beautification, which created a rather strange overall effect – of course it was in honor of Marchand, not Kanokoshi. In the end, the latter lost to Koch 3:1, so overall 5:2-es May end up being at a disadvantage.

Andrasfi and Komata were warned again for their negative attitude, which is why they were each punished. Komata changed the tempo and attacked more fiercely, narrowing the gap to two points, and then they scored (5:7). With 40 seconds left, he further melted the Hungarian team with a wonderful goal (6:7). In the final, he lost the first match against Hungary… but we still had the advantage.

Koch hits again at the beginning of the second round – nailed in the leg – so we are two shots ahead again. Meanwhile, Dávid Nagy starts to warm up brilliantly with the past, from which we can conclude that he is expected to replace Andrásfi in the sixth round. Koch hits again at the far end, the score is 6:9. To avoid a penalty, he almost rushes to the other end of the court after a wonderful side-stab, but is deflected by Jamada who stabs from behind. On the other hand, 15 seconds later he finds the ball again, defends again in the last minute and stabs the ball back (6 minutes 10 seconds). Being at a disadvantage, the Japanese team is under constant pressure and cannot let another minute go without a goal, because then the final will end with the given score – which is in our favor. On the other hand, due to the rules of the team competition, in the event of a tie, the higher world ranking is in their favor.

Japanese substitutes give us a headache

With a brilliant counterattack, Koch handed the victory to Siklosi, who was ready to face Mata, and Hungary led 10:7. The Japanese duelist who did not fence alone started to hit quickly, and Siklosi stabbed him after one minute of fencing time, thus restoring the three-point difference (8:11). Then came the biggest difference after the defense cut in the final so far (8:12). The fifth ace brought 2:2, so Dávid Nagy 12:9-es He drew for the first time in Paris under the Hungarian team – immediately against Cano. And if so, after 26 seconds of fencing, he gave the new Olympic champion a blow. Nagy, who had just won the Hungarian title, obviously lacked neither confidence nor tactical discipline, so he played the sixth trump card to make it 2:2. (11:14).

We were able to maintain the advantage at the beginning of the last third of the final, and Koch was able to maintain this advantage even at the end of the duel with Komata, which had caused a lot of trouble so far. They started as a team, and after a narrow minute and a half of fencing, the Japanese substitute scored two quick shots, so the Asian team came close with one goal (14:15). Koch got a little hot-headed after the two hits, changed his previous passive defense, and tried to attack, but was counterattacked by the opponent, and the score was already 15:15. They stung another group, but their swag was still almost a minute left. But our Milanese world champion regained his composure and almost got stabbed in the last third of the game, stabbing the left side of the Japanese. (16:17). Najib was also able to start the eighth trump card…

Jamada started cautiously, even though he knew that within a minute an abscess would develop. After 47 seconds, Nagy blocked the first attack, but he could not cope with the second, so we were tied with the champions again. Although there were no hits, it was still exciting. With a minute and a half to go, Nagy made a great save to regain the lead and at the same time deprived Japan of another chance to tie the score. The Japanese showed some stabbing kicks, but the Hungarian champion did not make a move and stabbed the forearm of the weapon holder’s hand (17:19). Before the end of the fencing time, Nagy scored a third consecutive hit, which meant that we were in the three-point game again (17:20). Jamada tied the score with lightning speed in the last minute, but Gergely Siklosi still tied the score with two shots thanks to a last ace.

We could have prepared for Kano to immediately start pushing Siklosi towards the end, but in half a minute he did not take any serious risks to beautify. This is what happened, but less than two seconds after the aforementioned half minute had passed, the gold medalist from Paris had already found it. The Tokyo silver medalist was still waiting for the opportunity to counterattack, but two minutes before the end, Kano hit Siklosi’s arm again. They beat a team with a minute and a half left. Siklosi regained the advantage over Hungary in a semi-expanded position after a jab. The voices of the audience rang out in the stands: “Riya-Riya, Hungary!” The time passed second by second, but we felt as if we were watching a slow-motion video, the time passed so awkwardly. Risk, he had to come, he tried a move 35 seconds before the end, Siklosi scored again, the Japanese entered the kamikaze mode, they hit the team, the 2019 world champion asked for a video! Review, but to no avail (22:24).

With 24 seconds left, the individual champion scored again beautifully, leaving the defending champion just one shot away from tying the score. Siklosi had to stay alert as Cano attacked frantically to tie the score and cut off the Hungarian’s goal with five seconds left. The remaining time was allowed to run out, and the gold rush could come.

But Siklosi did not tremble, he scored the final decisive goal, and the Hungarian men’s duel team won the final! It was the first time to participate in the Olympics after 52 years!

The Czech team won the bronze medal by defeating France 43:41 in a very tight match.

2024 Paris Olympics,
Doubles, Team, Men
finals
Japan – Hungary:

Bronze Medal Match
Czech Republic – France 43:41

Earlier
Semi-finals: Hungary-France: 45:30
quarter final: Kazakhstan-Hungary: 30:45

(Cover photo: Máté Koch, Tibor Andrásfi, Gergely Siklósi and Dávid Nagy in the quarterfinals of the men’s duel team event on August 2, 2024. Photo: Tibor Illyés / MTI)

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