Hungary Day 7: The Finals and Then Bad to Worse

I lay in my bed in the hotel, dreading the pain which I knew any movement would bring. I managed to reach for a water bottle near the bed and placed it on my chest. With the rise and fall of my chest the water lapped into my mouth. I lay there for some considerable time, until the water was all gone and until the horrible feeling in my head had at least subsided somewhat.

A shower helped somewhat but I still felt like death. I made my way to competition where I arrived just in time for the quarters. The British team were no where to be seen and I sat with US teams in some good seats down the fronts.

The finalists were Keeth Smart (USA), J.Z. Wang (CHI), Nicolas Limbach (GER), Gorski (POL), Dumitrescu and Zadomir (ROM), Jian Piero Pastore (ITA) and Zsolt Nemcsik the local hero.

In the first of the 1/4 finals Keeth faced Wang, who must be nearly 7 foot tall. At the break the score was 8-7 to Smart who had had the better of the match so far using his powerful attack and several lightning fast counter-attacks into the Wang's preparation. The second half of the match saw a different Wang however and he patiently waited on his advance drawing the counter-attack and then making them fall short or parrying. Wang began to pull away and soon closed out the match.

Limbach the gargantuan German dispatched Gorski with little fuss.

The all Romanian 1/4 final of Dumitrescu and Zadomir made for strange viewing as these fencers who obviously new each other very well cautiously second guessed each other into making mistakes. Both of the went for several parry seconde and invariably were hit by there opponent when they did so. Dumitrescu eventually ran out winner.

The MC gave Nemcsik a rousing ovation as he approached the piste. He took control of the match early on and lapped up the adulation of the crowd in between points. It began to get amusing however as with the score 14-9 in his favour several decisions began to not go his way. Several times he had his mask off to celebrate his victory before being replaced on the line by the ref. Eventually though he made his opponent fall short and planted the counter-attack. His mask was off his hands stretched out from his sides - we in the Irish and US section couldn't help but laugh as he milked it for all it was worth.

The two semi-finals were Wang Vs. Limbach and Dumitrecu Vs. Nemcsik both of which were to be quite dramatic.

Wang patience against Limbach as he patiently built his attack pressing the German from one end of the piste to the other was incredibly impressive and it was this that was repeatedly winning the Chinese his points. Limbach however was answering back with parries and counter-attacks and was tit-for-tat with this opponent who must have been quite a novelty for him in that he was taller than him. At 14 all, Limbach pressed Wang to one end of the piste but his attack fell short. Limbach strained repeatedly for contact as Wang patiently built his attack pressing him the entire length of the piste. With Limbach with only half a toe still on the piste Wang launched a giant lunge from which he landed completely on the side of his foot. The big man was down.

Medics rushed to the piste. After some time Wang was lifted up and with a coach underneath each arm limped back to his side of the piste. With the score still at 14-14 the two lined up facing each other. Allez! Into Limbach step Wang launched a powerful direct lunge - Attaque, contre-attaque. Wang wins, immediately after landing his front injured foot he pulls up in pain and was trapped in an odd moment of intense agony but joy.

In other semi-final, things didn't go according to plan for the home crowd. Nemcsik through the part of his opponent or through possibly through pressure put on him repeatedly failed to find distance against his opponent - his trademark throughcuts repeatedly missing there target. As he felt the match slipping away from him, his desparation through the match into the hands of his opponent.

So the final was to be Wang Vs Dumitrescu and while it would have been nice to see the fairy tale ending of Wang overcoming his injury, it was to be his injury which was the only talking point of the final. Unable to move for the most part, Wang was overrun by the able-bodied Dumitrescu who had to just wait for his opponent to pull up in pain for the most part before hitting him. The Romanians handshake afterwards was one of sympathy for his opponent and perhaps a sense of lack of fulfillment as his easiest match of the day was the final.

...

Still suffering badly from the effects of my self-administered poison I returned to my hotel room. Too hung-over to be bothered with trying to find an Irish bar I had the match streamed to my laptop. Surely the most soul-destroying match of rugby I have ever watched... I suppose the least said about it the better. Not that that was going to be the approach of my French Clubmates when I returned to Paris.

That night, thorourghly gutted, I ate alone in the hotel and went to bed early.