| | Event type

Sabre, Team, Men

Date	3 – 4 September 1972
Status	Olympic
Location	Fechthalle 1, Messegelände (Halle 11 & 12), München / Fechthalle 2, Messegelände (Halle 20), München
Participants	63 from 13 countries

There was little doubt that the USSR would triumph in Mexico. The Soviets had by then won five successive titles at the World and Olympic level and, in addition, their team contained two of the medallists in the individual event. All went smoothly and they duly reached their designated place in the final where their opponents would be an Italian team they had already defeated in the group stages. This is where reality took a divergent course from what was expected to happen.

Led by an inspired performance from reigning World Champion Michele Maffei, Italy upset the Soviets by a surprisingly wide 9-5 margin. The scale of the Italian achievement is best demonstrated by the fact that while they had been nearly unbeaten in the recent past, Italy had not won a medal at any of the intervening World Championships since they had won silver in Mexico.

Hungary beat Romania for the bronze medal.

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC
1	–	Italy	ITA	Gold
		Michele Maffei • Rolando Rigoli • Cesare Salvadori • Mario Aldo Montano • Mario Tullio Montano
2	–	Soviet Union	URS	Silver
		Mark Rakita • Viktor Sidyak • Vladimir Nazlymov • Eduard Vinokurov • Viktor Bazhenov
3	–	Hungary	HUN	Bronze
		Tibor Pézsa • Péter Marót • Péter Bakonyi • Tamás Kovács • Pál Gerevich
4	–	Romania	ROU
		Dan Irimiciuc • Iosif Budahazi • Gheorghe Culcea • Constantin Nicolae • Octavian Vintilă
5	–	Poland	POL
		Józef Nowara • Krzysztof Grzegorek • Zygmunt Kawecki • Jerzy Pawłowski • Janusz Majewski
6	–	Cuba	CUB
		Hilario Hipólito • Guzmán Salazar • Francisco de la Torre • Manuel Ortiz • Manuel Suárez
=7	–	France	FRA
		Régis Bonnissent • Bernard Dumont • Bernard Vallée • Philippe Bena • Serge Panizza
=7	–	West Germany	FRG
		Walter Convents • Volker Duschner • Knut Höhne • Dieter Wellmann • Paul Wischeidt
9	–	Austria	AUT
		Hans Brandstätter • Bernd Brodar • Fritz Prause • Günther Ulrich • Erwin Baumgartner (DNS)
10	–	Switzerland	SUI
		Alain Barudoni • Sandor Gombay • Istvan Kulcsar • Janos Mohos • Toni Reber
11	–	United States	USA
		Paul Apostol • Bob Dow • Alfonso Morales • Alex Orban
=12	–	Bulgaria	BUL
		Hristo Hristov • Stoyko Lipchev • Anani Mihaylov • Valentin Nikolov • Boris Stavrev
=12	–	Great Britain	GBR
		David Acfield • Richard Cohen • Rodney Craig • John Deanfield • Richard Oldcorn
DNS	–	Argentina	ARG
		Daniel Feraud • Fernando Lúpiz • Guillermo Saucedo • Omar Vergara
DNS	–	Mexico	MEX
		Roberto Alva • Carlos Calderón • Vicente Calderón • Hermilo Leal

Round One

Date	3 September 1972 — 8:00
Format	Top eight teams, based on percentage of wins/losses and bouts won/bouts lost, advanced to quarter-finals.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Matches	Matches Tied	Match Won %%%	Bouts	Bouts Won Margin
1	Poland	POL	3-0	0	1.000	35-13	22	Q
2	Hungary	HUN	2-0	0	1.000	21-7	14	Q
3	France	FRA	2-0	0	1.000	20-10	10	Q
4	Soviet Union	URS	2-0	0	1.000	19-13	6	Q
5	Italy	ITA	1-1	0	0.500	20-12	8	Q
6	West Germany	FRG	1-1	1	0.500	25-23	2	Q
7	Romania	ROU	1-1	0	0.500	14-14	0	Q
8	Cuba	CUB	1-1	0	0.500	14-16	-2	Q
9	Austria	AUT	0-1	2	0.333	20-28	-8
10	Switzerland	SUI	0-2	1	0.167	16-32	-16
11	United States	USA	0-2	0	0.000	12-20	-8
=12	Bulgaria	BUL	0-2	0	0.000	9-23	-14
=12	Great Britain	GBR	0-2	0	0.000	9-23	-14

Pool #1

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	Matches	Bouts
1	–	Hungary	HUN	2-0	21-7
		Tibor Pézsa • Péter Marót • Péter Bakonyi • Tamás Kovács • Pál Gerevich
2	–	Romania	ROU	1-1	14-14
		Dan Irimiciuc • Iosif Budahazi • Gheorghe Culcea • Constantin Nicolae • Octavian Vintilă
3	–	Bulgaria	BUL	0-2	9-23
		Hristo Hristov • Stoyko Lipchev • Anani Mihaylov • Valentin Nikolov • Boris Stavrev

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	03 Sep	Piste 4	Hungary	HUN	9 – 3	Romania	ROU
Match #2	03 Sep	Piste 4	Hungary	HUN	12 – 4	Bulgaria	BUL
Match #3	03 Sep	Piste 4	Romania	ROU	11 – 5	Bulgaria	BUL

Pool #2

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	Matches	Bouts
1	–	France	FRA	2-0	20-10
		Régis Bonnissent • Bernard Vallée • Philippe Bena • Serge Panizza
2	–	Cuba	CUB	1-1	14-16
		Hilario Hipólito • Guzmán Salazar • Francisco de la Torre • Manuel Ortiz • Manuel Suárez
3	–	United States	USA	0-2	12-20
		Paul Apostol • Bob Dow • Alfonso Morales • Alex Orban

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	03 Sep	Piste 12	France	FRA	9 – 5	Cuba	CUB
Match #2	03 Sep	Piste 12	France	FRA	11 – 5	United States	USA
Match #3	03 Sep	Piste 12	Cuba	CUB	9 – 7	United States	USA

Pool #3

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	Matches	Bouts
1	–	Soviet Union	URS	2-0	19-13
		Mark Rakita • Viktor Sidyak • Vladimir Nazlymov • Eduard Vinokurov • Viktor Bazhenov
2	–	Italy	ITA	1-1	20-12
		Michele Maffei • Rolando Rigoli • Cesare Salvadori • Mario Aldo Montano • Mario Tullio Montano
3	–	Great Britain	GBR	0-2	9-23
		David Acfield • Richard Cohen • Rodney Craig • John Deanfield • Richard Oldcorn

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	03 Sep	Piste 6	Soviet Union	URS	9 – 7	Italy	ITA
Match #2	03 Sep	Piste 6	Soviet Union	URS	10 – 6	Great Britain	GBR
Match #3	03 Sep	Piste 6	Italy	ITA	13 – 3	Great Britain	GBR

Pool #4

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	Matches	Matches Drawn	Bouts
1	–	Poland	POL	3-0	0	35-13
		Józef Nowara • Krzysztof Grzegorek • Zygmunt Kawecki • Jerzy Pawłowski • Janusz Majewski
2	–	West Germany	FRG	1-1	1	25-23
		Walter Convents • Volker Duschner • Knut Höhne • Dieter Wellmann • Paul Wischeidt
3	–	Austria	AUT	0-1	2	20-28
		Hans Brandstätter • Bernd Brodar • Fritz Prause • Günther Ulrich
4	–	Switzerland	SUI	0-2	1	16-32
		Alain Barudoni • Sandor Gombay • Istvan Kulcsar • Janos Mohos • Toni Reber

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	03 Sep	Piste 2	Poland	POL	11 – 5	West Germany	FRG
Match #2	03 Sep	Piste 1	Poland	POL	12 – 4	Austria	AUT
Match #3	03 Sep	Piste 1	Poland	POL	12 – 4	Switzerland	SUI
Match #4	03 Sep	Piste 2	West Germany	FRG	8 – 8	Austria	AUT	Draw
Match #5	03 Sep	Piste 2	West Germany	FRG	12 – 4	Switzerland	SUI
Match #6	03 Sep	Piste 1	Austria	AUT	8 – 8	Switzerland	SUI	Draw

Quarter-Finals

Date	3 September 1972 — 15:30
Format	Winner of each pool advanced to semi-finals.

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	03 Sep	Piste 6	Hungary	HUN	9 – 2	Cuba	CUB
Match #2	03 Sep	Piste 2	Soviet Union	URS	9 – 4	West Germany	FRG
Match #3	03 Sep	Piste 1	Italy	ITA	9 – 2	Poland	POL
Match #4	03 Sep	Piste 12	Romania	ROU	9 – 4	France	FRA

Semi-Finals

Date	4 September 1972 — 10:30
Format	Winner of each pool advanced to final.

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	04 Sep	Piste 2	Soviet Union	URS	9 – 7	Hungary	HUN
Match #2	04 Sep	Piste 1	Italy	ITA	9 – 7	Romania	ROU

Classification Round 5-8

Date	4 September 1972 — 10:30-

Pos	Number	Competitors	NOC	Bouts	Touches
1	–	Poland	POL	2-0	18-11
		Krzysztof Grzegorek • Zygmunt Kawecki • Jerzy Pawłowski • Janusz Majewski
2	–	Cuba	CUB	1-1	14-15
		Hilario Hipólito • Guzmán Salazar • Francisco de la Torre • Manuel Ortiz
=3	–	West Germany	FRG	0-1	6-9
		Walter Convents • Volker Duschner • Dieter Wellmann • Paul Wischeidt
=3	–	France	FRA	0-1	6-9
		Régis Bonnissent • Bernard Dumont • Bernard Vallée • Philippe Bena

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	04 Sep	Poland	POL	9 – 6	France	FRA
Match #2	04 Sep	Cuba	CUB	9 – 6	West Germany	FRG

Final Pool

Date	4 September 1972 — 19:30

Match	Date/Time	Location	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match 1/2	04 Sep	Piste 1	Italy	ITA	9 – 5	Soviet Union	URS
Match 3/4	04 Sep	Piste 1	Hungary	HUN	8 – 7	Romania	ROU
Match 5/6	04 Sep		Poland	POL	9 – 5	Cuba	CUB