UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Ankara: Shaban (EGY) lights up Men’s Semi-finals again

• Second consecutive Fencing masterclass gives 22-year-old a 10-point lead in Final
• Olympic medallists Choong (GBR), Elgendy (EGY) and Jun (KOR) all qualify
• Seo (KOR) wins first Semi-final as rivals prepare for a classic Super Saturday

Mohanad Shaban of Egypt once again bossed the Fencing Ranking Round to take a 10-point lead into the Men’s Final on the fourth day of UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Ankara.

The 22-year-old Shaban (EGY) scored one less victory than he did in Cairo (EGY) in March but still managed two more wins than any of his rivals for an impressive return of 25V/10D, before winning his Semi-final.

It means he will start tomorrow’s Final 10 points ahead of France duo Valentin Prades and Valentin Belaud, Woongtae Jun of Korea and Bence Demeter of Hungary, each of whom scored 23V/12D. Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Joseph Choong of Great Britain will be lurking just five points behind that quartet.

Changwan Seo (KOR) crossed the line first to win the first Men’s Semi-final by 1sec from the quartet of Myles Pillage (GBR), Mihaly Koleszar (HUN) and team-mates Prades (FRA) and Pierre Dejardin (FRA).

Shaban (EGY) held on to his Fencing lead to win the second Semi-final, 7sec ahead of Martin Vlach of Czech Republic, Ahmed Elgendy (EGY) and Jun (KOR).

The results ensure that all three Tokyo 2020 Olympic medallists – Choong (GBR), Elgendy (EGY) and Jun (KOR) – will be in the mix for medals on Super Saturday, albeit Elgendy (EGY) will have work to do after a Fencing Ranking Round tally of 19V/16D.

UIPM 2023 Pentathlon World Cup Ankara reaches its climax tomorrow (April 15) with the Women’s and Men’s Finals before the Mixed Relay concludes the competition on April 16. 

Live stream of all Finals will be available on UIPM TV and up-to-date results of all competitions are available at the UIPM website and via the UIPM Central app.

The list of qualified athletes for the Men's Final is as follows: