Krisztian Kulscar
Age: 38
3 Best Merits: World Champion Individually 2007 and Team 1998 and 2001
European Champion 1998 and 2001
2nd Olympic Games 1992 and 2004

What do you think is the greatest with fencing?

To me the greatest in fencing is that there is no pre-determination like in most of the other sports. There is no ultimate receipt. You can be a great fencer if you are tall, short, slow, fast, technical, tactical, smart, patient or just a normal, ordinary person - the only important thing is that you have to use your personal advantage.

Could you tell one of your strongest/most beautiful/favourite fencing memories?
I do not want / can't pick only one story. After 25 years of fencing it would be unfair (towards my other memories).

How come you decided to become an FIE observer?

I was elected into the FIE's Rules Commission (together with Pierre Thullberg) in 2008 and as an FIE official this is one of my duties.

What did you like most with Challenge Bernadotte?
I love Challenge Bernadotte for many reasons. I have several ties connecting me to this country; I have a wife who was born and lived in Stockholm, I have many friends living here and finally Bernadotte was my favourite World Cup as I won it twice ('01 and '02).

Foil or Sabre?
Individual or Team?
Offense or Defense?
Lunge or Fleche?
Buda or Pest?     

It started out very slowly on Friday. I came to Eriksdalshallen at about 7.45 am and was a little disappointed that we never got any big thing going on in the poules. I would say that some fencers could've made their way to the DE if they just put in some geist into their performance. A man like Stefano Carozzo never got his things going and was out without even giving it a big try, as it seemed. Maybe he was ill or something, I never found out. 

Happy to see the Swedish fencers in the poules, though. Guys like Vincent Alston and Robin Kase were plain awesome, even if Kase lost the last DE before Saturday as Pelletier won 15-14. I guess Robin will see this competition as a good experience as he continues his fencing career. Also very good to see this year's grand old man, C-H Wendt, take on the challenge at the age of 45 and make it to the round of 64. Maybe his was inspired from Jan Tivenius, his club mate, who did the same last year at about the same age. 

The big success from a Swedish perspective is Carl Frisell, though. Sitting in the stands, talking to some of the other swedes, I asked Adam Larsson and Christian Gustavsson if they remember the last time a Swedish fencer reached the quarterfinals. "I was in the round of 16 in 1998", Adam said. Christian didn't have a clue, as he was busy trying to do some betting with a club mate about who would win which bout during the entire Saturday's competition. I still don't know when last time a Swede made it to the last eight, but it must be several years ago. One sure thing is that Christian and his club mate were really bad at betting. I would have beaten them, hands down.

I was disappointed with the French team. They didn't make it to the podium either individually or with the team. And they were never really close. In the team competition, they lost to Estonia already in the round of 16. Individually, Gauthier Grumier were the best of the French, as he reached the quarterfinals. Only two others reached the round of 32 (Jeannet ended up 9th and Gustin 12th) and Robeiri was fourth best Frenchman at 35th place. They can't be happy with their weekend at all.

Speaking (writing, in fact) about Estonia, and disappointments, Nikolai Novosjolov was perhaps Saturday's biggest disappointment. Of course, he was unlucky to have drawn Guojie Li (who was on fire!) in the first bout, but he wasn't at all the same Novosjolov as Adam Larsson compared to Kolobkov and the other big guys in fencing from recent years. He had been almost unbeatable in the last few weeks and was the one that almost everyone said would win it all. Instead, he was out immediately. Maybe that was the reason Estonia ended up fourth during Sunday, beating Kazakhstan, France, and completely crush a strong Ukrainian team in the quarterfinals. He wanted his big revenge. I guess there was a limit for Novosjolov though, as they were too tired from not being able to rotate when they finally lost to Poland, 45-31. 

It is an interesting fact, that some of the top fencers and teams never really caught my attention as they just walked through it allwithout any real problems. I never really paid attention to either Jörg Fiedler or the Polish team, even if they were doing extraordinary well and they both ended up second. I guess they are just those anonymous types and that my eyes rather look for the fencers that are more spectacular, I don't know. Or maybe I was just too busy watching the very nearest piste. I am too lazy to watch bouts going on far away, that's for sure. Another sure thing is that neither Fiedler or Poland are especially lazy.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone that has made this year's Challenge Bernadotte one of the best competitions we've ever had here in Sweden. Thanks to the organization, the crew, my colleagues on the website, my sponsors (I guess that would be my mum and dad), the fencers, and of course, all of you readers and everyone who has been giving me all feedback and ompliments. I really enjoyed being here writing for the blog and I'm so looking forward to do the same thing in 2011, when the next Challenge Bernadotte takes place. Thank you all. See you next time.

Poland got off with a fantastic start, as Motyka crushed Garozzo,  5-0. But, later, Poland's Robert Andrzejuk injured his right knee and was out of the team bout early and saw his teammate Krysztof Mikulajczak take over in his place. 

The Polish fencers were very solid and had a good lead far into the bout, but then Italy started to pick up some hits and when Paolo Pizzo came in for Garozzo at 30-33, the bout took a turn. Pizzo won the individual bout against Zawrotniak and got the game to a 39-39 tie before the final bout between Rota and Motyka. 

The last bout was very stiff and no one wanted to make any mistake. It ended up in a 41-41 draw, and in the sudden death, Rota made sure that Italy won the whole competition. 

We all congratulate Italy to their impressive win and I'd also like to congratulate Poland to their great competition, even if they lost in such heavy style. Finally, congratulations to Hungary, who won the bout for third place and yet again showed that they like to come here and fence in Stockholm. 

I will try to sum up the complete weekend tomorrow. I hope you stay tuned for that one. 

For now, thank you very much. See you all tomorrow.

The Hungarian fencers and leaders went angry as the referee denied Geza Imre a hit after he accidentally stepped on Garozzo's blade and hit in the second tempo thereafter. There were long discussions and they had to consult the head referee. After reviewing the actions, they came to the conclusion to annull the hit. The blog is proud to have picture proof of the incident.

UPDATE: Finally, Italy won the bout in sudden death, after Garozzo hit Boczko's foot in spectacular style. In the final, Italy will fight Poland. 

Came to Eriksdalshallen very much too early this morning. The kickoff party in school was a great experience for everyone, as we got to meet some new friends and have a good time among the other physiotherapist students until the early hours. It had it's price, though, as I'm not very alert today, but I will do my best. 

The reigning champs of the Team World Cup, Hungary, are more alert than I am. After a strong victory against Korea, they will take on Italy, who have been rotating a lot through the competition. All of the Italians have been fencing and they should be very fit even at this stage.

The Estonians have not been rotating at all, as they are only three team members. They had a tough bout against Ukraine, and they seemed very tired afterwards, and I wonder if they are able to put on another great performance. They will meet the strong Polish team in the semi-finals and it will be a very tough game for the Estonians.

Now, I will try to wake up a little bit more and give you some useful information later on. 

 At 11.40 the quaterfinals will start. At the yeallow piste we'll see Swiss, who had a rather comfortable victory over Belarus, facing Poland who defeted Canada in the 16-tablau. Over at the green piste, we find Ukraine and Estonia. Estonia won against France with 45-40 and I guess that the results in this competition isn't really what the French hoped for. Ukraine sent China to the tableu of the last places. Italy and Russia are at the red piste, Russia who had a even match with Germany that finished 32-28 and Italy who to defete Venezuela after a thrilling last period. Finally in the quarterfinals, at the blue piste, Korea and Hungary has started as I'm writing. The Korean victory in yeasterday's individual competition has surely improved the team spirit.

I will return to the floor, taking the chance to watch the fencing close up, and hopefully get a few good photos. 

I arrive an hour late, having thought that I was in time. I met my teammate on the way who told me what had passed. What he says sounds reasonable in terms of why they lost, and I hurry on to the hall, trying to avoid to miss too much. Now, sitting here I see the teams prepare for the next round. Our neighboring country Norway is up against Hungary, Germany will fence Russia, Venezuela is shaking hands with Italy and South Korea with Spain. In an hours time, eight new teams will take their places. From the competition's perspective, it's still a long way to go and I look forward to see what will happen. You can also follow the competition, either via the "regular" result reports or via the video streaming. The show is on.

It's confetti over the final piste and the audience is gone. Jung Seung Hwa defeted Jörg Fiedler (ranked 2nd in the world) with 15-12. Best Swede was Carl Frisell with a 7th place. Geza Imre and Bogdan Nikishin had to see themselves defeted in the semifinals.

He did what he could, but finally, every fairytale has to come to an end. After beating M. Ambroz, M. Kauter and Gustin, Carl Frisell ended up as number 8 in this year's Challenge Bernadotte. Geza Imre was, by far, the best fencer Frisell met this day and never gave the Swede any chance at all. With the score 15-7, Imre reached the semi-finals. 

In the semis, he will meet Jung, Korea, who made an impressive effort, beating World's number one, Gauthier Grumier. 15-10, and Jung is now the best non-European fencer in this tournament. 

In the other semifinal, we will see Jörg Fiedler take on the big Ukrainian, Bogdan Nikishin, who, in my opinion, surprisingly beat Paolo Pizzo, 15-11. Nikishin has been solid throughout the day and could give Fiedler a big challenge.

If I'm supposed to sum up my experience from the individuals today, I'd say that Carl Frisell, Geza Imre, Guojie Li and all the upsets in the morning are the things that will stay in my mind. Very entertaining fencing overall, and I do hope that this tournament will grow even more and get some more attention in the city of Stockholm. I guess that it will take more Swedish success, though. Carl Frisell did what he could today to start that Swedish success, and maybe he can help our team to reach some success tomorrow? 

Our own SuperSwede, Carl Frisell, isn't afraid to do what he wants on the piste. In the round of 16, he beat French 22-year-old Ronan Gustin after some solid fencing. The crowd is gathering around the green piste every time he is fencing and I like it a lot. It's not every time we see a Swedish fencer in a GP quarterfinal, so I guess people are just doing what they can to make him inspired. In the quarterfinal, he will fence Geza Imre, one of my two favourites to the title. He showed what he is made of when he beat Khvorost after some minor problems. 

Li Guojie, my other contender, showed even more when he came back to a 15-13 win against Jeannet, who was in front at 10-7. That bout is probably the best I've ever witnessed live in my entire life. He is now up for a battle against Jörg Fiedler of Germany, who is rock solid at the moment. 

Gauthier Grumier will take on Seung Jung, who won a sudden victory against Igor Reyzlin, Ukraine. The last quarterfinal is between Pizzo and Nikishin. 

My next update will be after the quarterfinals. That will also be my last one for today, as I'm leaving for our kickoff at school. I hope you don't mind. I will try to make Charlotte to give you a last update after the finals.