Tokyo Olympics 2021, Daniele Garozzo is silver in foil: no encore from Rio, he loses the final 15-11 against Ka Long Cheung

Daniele Garozzo is silver In the men’s foil individual. The blue athlete was defeated in the final by Cheung Ka Long, athlete in Hong Kong, per 15-11. The Catania player, born in 1992, surrendered to the last act which, in case of victory, would have meant repeating the gold won in Rio 2016. The dream vanished in a hard-fought final, marked by problems at theadductor right thigh for him, already hit by cramps in the quarters of final against the French Lefort.

Individual fencing without solos – For Italy this is the ninth medal at Tokyo Olympics, third silver of the day after the men’s relay 4 × 100 freestyle in swimming e Diana Bacosi In the skeet shooting. The medal table says 9 podiums after three days of competition: the same as five years ago in Brazil, but in 2016 the gold medals were 3. There is no fencing, in fact, which closes with two second places. To find a winless edition of the Olympics in individual competitions, you have to go back to Moscow 1980, forty-one years ago. From tomorrow (women’s sword) it’s up to the teams, to flesh out the booty and improve a path in chiaroscuro between the individuals.

The final – Too bad for Garozzo, also limited by physical problems. The blue starts strong and goes on 4-1, then 5 hits in a row of Cheung are worth the tie e overtaking, held back by the Catania who, after cramps in the quarters back to having muscle problems. The physiotherapist must intervene to massage the right thigh of the blue athlete, who complains of discomfort in the adductors. At the resumption the Hong Kong player starts strong and flies 10-5. Garozzo does not give up, places four winning hits and returns to contact. Cheung reacts with three winning shots (13-9) and tries to escape, but the athlete of the Fiamme Gialle has no intention of giving up and returns to 2 hits away (13-11). But Cheung shines and stays focused and places the shots that are worth the gold in two quick assaults that leave Garozzo in tears.

Path – The Sicilian he had reached the final dominating the Japanese Takahiro Shikine (15-11) in the semifinals after winning in the quarters a hard-fought and nervous challenge against Lefort with a score of 15-10. Garozzo had begun his journey by overcoming the standard bearer of Egypt, Hassan, 15-6. In the round of 16 he beat the Japanese with pain Mitsuyama (15-14). In the quarters, he had imposed 15-10 on the French Lefort. On the other hand, the other Azzurri in the race are out in the second round Andrea Cassarà e Alessio Foconi. The bronze went to the Czech Alexander Choupenitch who in the final for third place beat Shikine 15-8.

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