Yeah, I know, been ages.
While club stuff is nuts over the next little while, I’m going to be returning the Epic Sabre Hit series to its roots and skimping on the hardcore analysis a bit. I’ll be leaving that stuff to Rob Cawdron, who’s got another column in the works as we speak.
The first A-grade of 2015 is coming up in Padova this weekend, and I’ll be running a few hits over the next few days from fencers I’d really like to see more of this season.
Oh Eunseok has had a rough patch in the last couple of years, but as the first of the modern generation of K-sabre he deserves a lot of respect. The prototype for everything the rest of the team uses can be seen here, from the fluid power of the offensive footwork to the utterly bamboozling trick shots. What I’m really excited to see is what happens now he’s been reunited with his old coach: at 31, he may well be able to bounce back.
Anyway, he had a pretty lively bout against Benedikt Wagner in Warsaw last year. He lost, but some good sabre happened along the way, including this ridiculously flashy bit of bladework:
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And here’s another, just as a freebie:
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More of this kind of thing, please.
Full bout is available here, with hilarious snarky commentary from Mr Fischl and his colleagues:
As far as Padova goes, I’m going to phone it in and just run with same prediction as the last two comps.
The cynics say an Italian’s gotta win it, but remind me of how that went last year?
Yup. The rematch has already been done twice, and neither looked good for Szilagyi. Actually kind of hoping for something a little different this time: more on that tomorrow!