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Title
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Miguel de Capriles Wins Sabre Tournament in Hungary
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Date
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October 29, 1936
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volume
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1
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issue
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17
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pages
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1, 3
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content
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en
MIGUEL DE CAPRILES WINS SABRE TOURNAMENT IN HUNGARY
On the morning of Monday, September 7, 1936, the leading newspaper in Budapest, "A REGGEL," carried screaming headlines to the following story, as translated for the RIPOSTE by the American consulate:
"AMERICAN FENCER WINS FIRST PRIZE IN THE SABRE COMPETITION AT BALATONALMADI.
—
Ilus Varga defeats the American women’s fencing champion
(From A REGGEL correspondent) In connection with Balaton Sport Week, there were sporting competitions held at Balatonalmadi, Siofok, and Balatonkenese. The sabre fencing competition began in the evening. Béla Tornay, General Manager of the Postal Savings Bank, addressed the Olympian fencers. The competition began shortly thereafter.
MR. DE CAPRILES, AMERICAN FENCER, STARTED "HORS CONCOURS," WON FIRST PRIZE WITH 7 VICTORIES. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT A FOREIGNER HAS WON A HUNGARIAN NATIONAL FENCING COMPETITION. THE BALATON CHAMPIONSHIP WAS WON BY MR. Z. KÜNG, (TURUL F.C.) WHO FINISHED SECOND WITH 5 VICTORIES.
Further places were won by: 3, Vitez; 4, Lantos; 5, Palocz; 6, Tabajdy; 7, Maszlay; 8, Szemeky; 9, Dr. Zold. During the intermission, Miss Varga fenced the American Women's Champion, Grace Tuscan, and won after a hot struggle by 10-8 touches.
The American sabre fencer and foil fencer are pupils of George Santelli.”
In explanation of the above report, it should be stated that this was the fifth annual competition held at Lake Balaton, a popular summer resort three hours from Budapest. There were 29 starting contestants, the preliminary rounds being fenced on Sunday afternoon and evening. The field did not include the six members of the Hungarian Olympic sabre team, who acted as officials during most of the round-robin, but it did include several finalists in the Hungarian National Championships. The tournament is rated as of the first class (equivalent to our senior ranking). Favored to win was Mazzlay, who fenced foil in the Olympics, but he was bothered by a bad knee in the later stages of the competition to such an extent that he defaulted his final bout to M. de Capriles.
The latter, Bela de Nagy, and Oswald Chan, Chinese student in London, all of whom were visiting Budapest at the time, were invited to compete "hors concours." This was necessary because in Hungary, as in other European countries, national competitions are open only to citizens of that country, and the highest-ranking citizen wins the championship honors. A foreigner may win only a championship that has been expressly termed "international," and is run by an international committee.
The competition was fenced for bouts of 4 touches, but a margin of 2 touches was required for victory, so that many bouts exceeded the 4-touch limit, and all ties had to be fenced-off as there was no equitable way of solving them by counting touches given or received.
"Mike" had trouble getting past the first round, despite the fact that 4 of the 6 contestants were qualified. He won only 2 bouts to end in a triple tie for the last two places. The first fence-off was not decisive, as each man won 1 and lost 1. A second fence-off, this time for bouts of 2 hits, with a 2-touch difference to win, was then ordered, and Mike and Dr. Zold (later a finalist) went up. Meanwhile, Bela de Nagy had done a marvelous job in qualifying with 4 straight wins. Chan was put out in this round.
The first semi-final pool, which began after 11 P.M., saw Bela de Nagy drop out, scoring only 1 victory although several of his bouts were brilliantly fenced and went to more than 8 touches. When the second semi-final of 8 fencers began, well after midnight, the Committee notified Mike that he needed only 2 victories to qualify for the final "hors concours" as the best foreign competitor. Mike won 4 bouts and lost three, among the latter being a long and hard fought battle with Jaszlay which went to 10 touches.
As three other competitors had finished with 4 victories, another fence-off was necessary to determine which of the Hungarians would be in the final.
The following afternoon, the finals were held, with the results reported. Mike won his first four bouts in beautiful style, to lead by a wide margin at the intermission. The third bout turned out to be the crucial one. Jaszlay, the runner-up, led 3-0 and needed but one more touch. At this point Mike rallied, and reeled off a perfect string of 5 clean hits which included 3 remises to the cuff. It was the only bout in the finals which Mike fenced for more than 4 touches.
When the tournament was resumed under the electric lights, Dr. Zold, who had beaten Mike twice in the first round, turned the trick again in the final, 4-2. Zold was the only man with a clean record against de Capriles.
Meanwhile the other contestants had been beating each other off, and all had 3 defeats by the time that Mike met Tabajdy and Szemzely. Both of these men were turned back by 4-1 scores and first place was certain. Mike then had 6 victories, and no one else could get more than five. Therefore, when Jaszlay defaulted his 1st bout to give Mike a 7th victory, the result was already settled. The second, third and fourth places were decided by fence-off as three men were tied with 5 victories and 3 defeats each.
Approximately 400 spectators were on hand to witness the contest, which was featured by an amazing demonstration between the famous coach of the Hungarian Olympic team, Italo Santelli, and his brilliant pupil, Endre Kabos, the new Olympic sabre champion.
