Gold, silver and bronze to start the European Championships, but Italy wants to continue collecting medals in Basel and today it’s the foilists’ turn. It will be a very important second day for the Azzurri, given that there is great anticipation for the individual women’s foil test, but also attention to that of the men’s sabre, with the Azzurri having their say for the podium area.
One year after the historic Plovdiv poker, the Italian foil players still want to dominate. Martina Batini will defend the title, who will experience this European Championship with a different spirit than her teammates, given that she will not be present in Paris 2024. The Tuscan wants to climb to the top step of the podium again and in all likelihood her first opponents will be her compatriots: Martina Favaretto, Alice Volpi and Arianna Errigo. A truly phenomenal trio, given that we are talking about number two, three and four in the world ranking.
The main opponent of the Italians should be the French Ysaora Thibus, who will make her great return to the stage at the European Championships in Basel after being cleared of the doping accusation. Spotlight also on the German Anne Sauer and not to be underestimated also the Polish Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk and the other French Pauline Ranvier.
The Italian sabers have experienced a very up-and-down season, but they arrived at these European Championships full of energy. The highlights certainly are Luigi Samele and Luca Curatoli, perhaps not the very first favourites, but certainly two expert athletes who have everything to compete for a medal, even of the most precious metal. Also be careful of a rampant Michele Gallo and well Pietro Torre will try to surprise.
The reigning champion is the Georgian Sandro Bazadzewho presents himself at the starting line as number one in the world ranking and who will have a legend like the Hungarian as his main rival Aron Szilagyi. Among the favorites are the French Sebastien Patrice, Bolade Apithy and Maxime Pianfetti, the Hungarian Andras Szatmari and the German Matyas Szabo.
