Di Veroli is dancing for joy

As Italy’s ballet-loving epee fencer Davide Di Veroli wins two golds, Yuka Ueno (JPN) confirms she is a force to be reckoned with.

Off the piste, the 17-year-old enjoys learning classical ballet - and he says its rigorous techniques have done wonders for his form. “Dancing (ballet) helps me a lot with my fencing because it makes me more elastic, explosive and improves my resistance. Memorising choreography is really similar to doing lots of the same touches. It helps me mentally and physically." Di Veroli said as he outclassed the opponents with his footwork and ability to anticipate their attacks.

In the individual epee, Di Veroli beat Paul Veltrup (GER) 11-4 in the gold medal bout at the Africa Pavilion. In the women’s epee, underdog Kateryna Chorniy (UKR) took gold by defeating top seed Kaylin Sin Yan Hsieh (HKG) 11-9.

Chorniy came into the Games seeded eight spots below Hsieh, who said losing to Chorniy was part of a learning curve with coach Octavian Petru Zidaru (ROU) that has catapulted her to new heights.  "Before he came I wasn't very good. I mean, I was OK, but I didn't really understand what fencing was," Hsieh said. "He helped me understand more about the sport and helped develop my strengths."

Japanese foil sensation Yuka Ueno,16, won the first fencing gold medal of the Games in spectacular fashion by defeating Martina Favaretto (ITA) 15-12 on Sunday.

IOC
IOC

Ueno justified her status as favourite to win the women’s foil after topping the cadet (under-17) and junior (under-20) age groups at the Junior World Fencing Championships in April.

In the men’s sabre, Krisztian Rabb (HUN) took just 30 seconds to defeat Jun Hyun (KOR) 15-13 for the gold medal, while Egypt’s Mazen Elaraby caused an upset by winning the bronze medal bout 15-10 against second seed Robert Vidovszky (USA). “I don’t know how I did it,” the 17-year-old said. French foil specialist Armand Spichiger claimed the remaining individual fencing gold of the Games on Tuesday by defeating Kenji Bravo (USA) 15-7, while Lisa Pusztai (Hun) won women's sabre with a win against Natalia Botello Cervantes (Mex) 15-9.

In the mixed continental team event, body language and computer-generated translation helped fencers and coaches overcome the language barrier in the battle for the final fencing medals.

IOC
IOC

The Europe 1 team - comprising five individual gold medallists and one silver - proved too strong for Asia-Oceania 1, who lost 28-25. Americas 1 won bronze after with a 30-24 victory over Europe 3.

Americas 1 foil fencer May Tieu (USA) said the team event made a nice change from individual competition. “Fencing as a team and having people support you, always behind you, is really great,” the 17-year-old said