Sabre

Page content: Weapon : Target area : Rules

Weapon

The sabre may be easily distinguished from the other two fencing weapons, as it is the only one in which the guard encloses the fencer's hand. The sabre blade has a rectangular cross-section, and, like the other two weapons, is 90cm long.

Unlike with foil and epee, when fencing sabre hits may be scored with both the point and the edge of the weapon. Thus, the electrical weapon does not have a plunger tip: rather, the whole blade is active. The fencer must still wear a bodywire under the jacket, to connect the weapon with the electrical scoring apparatus.

Target area

In sabre fencing, hits may be scored to any part of the body above the hips. Thus, when using the electrical scoring apparatus, sabreurs must wear a long sleeved metallic jacket over their fencing jacket, and also have a mask that is uninsulated on the outside, and that is attached to the metallic jacket by a clip-on wire.

Hits to the legs are off-target. In sabre, off target hits are not registered by the electrical scoring apparatus.

Rules

Sabre, like foil, has rules regarding the priority of the hit. In essence, if a fencer is attacked by his opponent, he must first defend himself before launching his own attack. If he reacts by simply counter-attacking into his opponent's attack, the point will be awarded to the original attacker. While the electrical apparatus indicates when hits land, it is the role of the referee to award the point based on the rules of priority.

Typically, sabre bouts are fenced at very high speed, and with much movement up and down the piste, as each fencer tries to launch an attack when the other is not prepared for it.