Hi!
It is that time of the year when I tape stuff, and Eric gets it a few weeks later for the service of those who do not live in Eurosport-enabled places.
Today, I missed the start with 21 minutes, but Eurosport had delayed the start of its airings by 25 minutes, so no problem for you. Typical of Eurosport.
The airing shows the fencers from the side, at long distance, closeups in the slo-mo replays, and from above in the replays. Nils Koppang, former Norwegian ME champion, does the commentary in Swedish - and quite ably so, IMO. The fencers are clearly seen, as are their weapons. However, in order to provide a dark background, the ref is not seen - but heard. In the lefty/righty bouts, the camera sees the back of the fencers, while the unseeable ref in the dark background sees their chests/bellies.
The 1st segment shows WF Ind and MS Ind, for both events the semis and gold medal bouts are shown. However, none of the 6 bouts are shown in their entirety - first 4-6 points are cut out.
We start with Vezzali crushing Aida 15-3. Then Granbassi beats Trillini in a bit more balanced bout. In the final, neither Italian pulls ahead. In the last minute of the 3rd period Granbassi clearly hits something, as her foil is bent a lot. However, no lights come up and after a long debate the ref does not award anything. To me, this appears to be a technical malfunction of some sort. They both score one more, putting the score at 6-6 when time runs up. Granbassi wins the lottery, and about halfways into the minute Valentina attacks which is parry/riposted by Granbassi. Justice is served for the robbed (by the technical apparatus) point just before.
The flicks were nowhere to be seen, and the bouts took longer time. In many instances, these world-class fencers missed repeatedly at short distance, without being parried. I saw several instances of "sewing-machine fencing" where both fencers repeatedly miss attacks/counterattacks without any parry attempts inbetween. Strange.
In the 1st MS semi, Podz is up against Frossine. Podz mostly holds a slight lead, since Frossine seems to be having great difficulties in getting one-lighters against Podz. (So would I, BTW.
) At the score 14-13 to Podz, Frossine starts the attack and lights up the light. Podz slightly grazes Frossines blade, but not enough to materially hinder the attack or move it out of line. Immediately after, Podz lights up his light with a riposte. The point is given to Frossine (correctly, IMO) but Podz protests and demands a replay check. After some deliberation, the call is overturned and Podz wins the semi. Frossine gives a hearty congratulation to Podz.
In the 2nd a new South Korean guy (Won something) is up against Zsolt Nemzcik. Won simply has too many weaknesses against that kind of opposition, and Zsolt takes the final spot.
The two old hands are at it again for the MS gold, and Podz shows off a dizzying array of techniques to get the yellow metal. Wonderful bout!
In short: the experienced fencers prevailed (Granbassi is 27, they youngest of the WF semifinalists), the Italian WF team is the heavy favorite, as is Russia in MS team. Replay was not used excessively, but proved decisive in one major bout.
Have a nice time!
Peter Gustafsson
I had to take Mrs. to a meeting, but had started the taping before we left. Raced back to put in a new tape. When I came home, I found out that they had switched channel places, so that I got a bunch of TV SHOP and David Letterman instead of WFT. I only got the last bout of that match. I got all that was showed of MET final, but that was only bouts #6,8,9. Eurosport spends valuable airing time showing the faces of cheering/sulking coaches and teammates, instead of showing more real fencing. They are going down the "human interest" pit that I so detest.
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