Sandro Bazadze claims bronze at Tunis Grand Prix

Georgia: Sandro Bazadze has added another medal to his impressive collection by winning the bronze at the Tunis Grand Prix on January 13, 2024.

Bazadze, ranked number one in the world, defeated Italy’s Luca Curatoli 15-12 in the third-place match after losing a close semi-final to Tunisia’s Fares Ferjani 14-15.

This is Bazadze’s fourth medal in the 2023-2024 season, following his gold at the Algerian World Cup, silver at the Orleans Grand Prix, and silver at the Warsaw World Cup. 

The 30-year-old Georgian has been dominating the sabre circuit since he became the first male fencer from his country to win the European title in 2022 in Antalya, Turkey. He repeated his feat in 2023 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and won silver at the World Championships in Milan, Italy.

Bazadze also received the prestigious FIE Award for the best male sabre fencer in 2022, 2021, and 2019, becoming the first Georgian to earn this honour. He is widely regarded as one of the favourites for the gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where he will aim to improve on his quarter-final finish in Tokyo in 2020.

Bazadze comes from a fencing family, as his father, Merab, is the president of the Georgian Fencing Federation, and his brother, Beka, is also a former international fencer. He trains at the Cercle d’Escrime Orleanais in France under the guidance of coach Christian Bauer.

The Tunis Grand Prix was the fourth event of the 2023-2024 FIE Sabre World Cup series, which will continue with the Tbilisi World Cup in February, where Bazadze will have the chance to defend his title in front of his home crowd.

Tunis Grand Prix

The Tunis Grand Prix or Grand Prix de Tunis was a motor race held in the 1920s and 30s in Tunis, the capital of the African colony of the French protectorate of Tunisia. A race was held originally as an open-wheel motor race on a street circuit at Le Bardo, west of Tunis.