Sports & Outdoors

How To Attack In Sabre Fencing

The sabre is one of the three weapons used in modern fencing. In this step by step guide Karim Bashir, fencing coach and former international fencer, talks you through the basics of sabre fencing, including the way to attack your opponent. Enlarge

How To Attack In Sabre Fencing

The sabre is one of the three weapons used in modern fencing. In this step by step guide Karim Bashir, fencing coach and former international fencer, talks you through the basics of sabre fencing, including the way to attack your opponent.

Top Tips

  • Sabre is unique in that it is a cutting weapon, this means you can hit your opponent with the side as well as the point of the blade.
  • Sabre is a weapon of convention, so the referee decides who the attacking fencer is.
  • Sabre is derived from the old cavalry sword, so the target area is everything above the waist including the head; there is no off-target in sabre.
  • A sabre fencer can create a compound attack by using feints; this means they will fake an attack to one area of the target, and hit another.