The sabre (US English: saber, both pronounced ) is one of the three disciplines of modern fencing alongside foil and epee. The sabre weapon is for thrusting and cutting with both the cutting edge and the back of the blade (unlike the other modern fencing weapons, the épée and foil, where a touch is scored only using the point of the blade).
The informal term sabre fencer refers to sabre fencers of both genders.
Weapon
+Specifications of the sabre apparatusNameDescriptionFIE regulatedGuardMaximum section; protects the fencer's hand.YesBladeThe blade attached into the handle, steelYesTotal lengthTotal maximum the dimension of the sabreYesTotal weightTotal maximum weight ready for useYes "The blade, which must be of steel, is approximately rectangular in section. The maximum length of the blade is . The minimum width of the blade, which must be at the button, is ; its thickness, also immediately below the button, must be at least ."
The cross-sectional profile of the sabre blade is commonly a V-shaped base which transitions to a flat rectangular shaped end with most blade variants, but this is dependent on how it is manufactured. This allows the blade to be flexible towards the end. According to regulation, manufacturers must acknowledge that the blade must be fixed horizontally at a point from the tip of the blade.
Standardised adult (size 5) blades are in length (excluding other components). At the end of the blade, the point is folded over itself to form a "button" which, when viewed end on, must have a square or rectangular section of no larger or smaller. The button must not be any more than from the end of the blade section.
The guard is full in shape, made in one piece and is externally smooth; the curvature of the guard is continuous without any aesthetic perforations or rims. The interior of the guard is fully insulated by either paint or a pad. The guard is designed to provide the hand adequate protection to ensure that injury does not occur which may hinder the performance of the fencer. Guards are dimensionally measured in section where the blade is parallel with the axis of the gauge.
On electrical sabres, a socket for the body wire is found underneath the bell guard. A fastener known as a pommel is attached to the end of the sword to keep the bell guard and handle on. It electrically separates the handle and the guard.
The conventional handle of the sabre is shaped so that it may be held so that the hand may slide down to gain further extension of the weapon relative to the fencer. Other grips which form various shapes are incompatible and impractical with sabre as they limit the movement of the hand, and are likely to be ergonomically incompatible with the guard.
The entire weapon is generally long; the maximum weight is , but most competition swords are closer to . It is shorter than the foil or épée, and lighter than the épée, hence physically easier to move swiftly and decisively. However the integrity of the sabre blade is not as strong as other weapons as it is more likely to break due to the design.
Electrical sabre Like other weapons used in fencing, the modern sabre uses an electrical connection to register touches. The sabreur wears a lamé, a conductive jacket, to complete the circuit and register a touch to a valid target.
Sabre was the last weapon in fencing to make the transition over to using electrical equipment. This occurred in 1988, 32 years (1956) after the foil and 52 years (1936) after the épée. In 2004, immediately following the Athens Summer Olympics, the timing for recording a touch was shortened from its previous setting, dramatically altering the sport and method in which a touch is scored.
Unlike the other two weapons, there is very little difference between an electric sabre and a steam or dry (non-electric) one. The blade itself is the same in steam and electric sabres, as there is no need for a blade wire or pressure-sensitive tip in an electric sabre. An electric sabre has a socket, which is generally a 2-prong or bayonet foil socket with the two contacts shorted together. The electric sabre also has insulation on the pommel and on the inside of the guard to prevent an electrical connection between the sabre and the lamé. This is undesirable because it effectively extends the lamé onto the sabre, causing any blade contact to be registered as a valid touch.
Early electric sabres were equipped with a capteur socket. The capteur was a small mechanical accelerometer that was intended to distinguish between a good cut and a mere touch of the blade against the target. In November 2019, the FIE announced their intention to re-introduce the capteur to sabre using modern accelerometer technology.
Target area
The general target area for the discipline, that is, all areas where a valid hit may be scored, comprises the entire torso above the waist, the head, and the arms up to the wrist. The legs, hands and feet are excluded from the target area.
A single circuit for the entire target area used in scoring systems is formed by multiple conductive pieces of equipment:
Glove: Gloves usually provide the conductive manchette (cuff) used in physical conjunction and contact with the lamé; usually worn over the lamé. The hand may not be conductive. Lamé: The conductive lamé which covers the torso and arms of the fencer. Conductivity of the lamé does not extend past the waistline to comply with the target criteria. The lamé is connected to the sabre by a body cord which features a 3-pin plug (which connects to the box via the strip's floor reel), crocodile clip (which connects to the lamé) and 2-pin plug (which connects to the sabre). Mask: The conductive mask, usually directly connected to the lamé through a mask wire with a crocodile clip on each end.
Because touches can be scored using the edge of the blade, there is no need for a pressure-sensitive head (the "button") to be present on the end of the blade. When fencing "electric" (as opposed to "steam" or "dry") a current runs through the sabre blade. When the blade comes into contact with the lamé, the electrical mask, or the manchette, current flows through the body cord and interacts with the scoring equipment.
Scoring
Central judging apparatus The scoring apparatus or box aids the referee's final judgement. As for all electrical apparatus used in modern fencing, the referee must take into account the possibility of mechanical failure. Most sabre hits are registered by light signals placed on top of the sabre apparatus (red and green distinguishable for each fencer, with the light indicating the fencer who registered a hit) and accompanied by audible signal(s) consisting of either a short ring or a continuous note limited to two seconds.
In some circumstances a white signal is indicated when a fencer has hit off-target.
Lockout period The lockout period is the minimum amount of time between registered touches respective of the target area. This period is set into the electrical apparatus to aid judgement.
Recent regulation adjustments to the "functioning times of the scoring apparatuses" following from the 2016 Olympic Games modified the registering times from 120 ms to 170 ms Scoring apparatuses with the new modification are marked with a magenta identification label bearing in black text "FIE 2016".
If both hits occur and the time difference is greater than the lockout period, one signal is displayed by the judging apparatus. The referee is likely to award the point to the first hit. If both hits occur within the lockout period, both signals are displayed; in such a situation final judgement of the score is determined by the 'right of way'.
Changing the lockout timing effectively changed the way with which the sabre was fenced, making it faster with greater emphasis on footwork. Although the essential nature of the game would remain the same, the strategies for attack and defense would need to be rethought.
The timing change was initially greeted with a degree of controversy, as many fencers were accustomed to having the longer timings. This made the techniques then employed vulnerable to fast stop-cuts (a hit made by the defender that lands whilst the attacker is still beginning an attack, also known as a skyhook) or (a second attack made by the original attacker after the first has technically finished). It was commonly regarded that the shorter timings would only encourage poor technique and an "attack only" mentality, negating much of the art of the sport.
Remises and stop-cuts would not normally score a point, as a hit by the attacker would take priority. However, the hit made with priority may arrive too late under the shorter timings to register, and so the stop-cuts and remises would indeed score.
As a result of the narrower timings, the efficacy of attacks into preparation was increased, meaning that it was now more critical that the preparing fencer must already have begun an attack by the time the two fencers were in hitting distance of each other.
The techniques of how to parry and riposte have been extended. The solid parries, used extensively before the change of timings, would be supplemented by an additional step back by the defender to avoid the attacker remising (continuing to push their blade after their attack has technically done) or else the defence to be performed as a beat-attack, an extending arm that deflects the oncoming attack halfway through the extension before hitting the original attacker's target area.
With hindsight, the shorter timings seem to have encouraged a tightening and refinement of the original techniques with smaller, neater moves so that, on the whole, sabre fencing became faster and more precise than it had ever been before.
Right of way
When both signals indicate, it rests upon the referee to decide which fencer scores the point. The decision is based on the concept of right of way which gives the point to the fencer who had priority, i.e. the attacking fencer. As with foil, the other right of way weapon, priority is gained in many ways, which can be broken down into active, passive, and defensive categories:
Active: Attacking the opponent. (In fencing the word "attack" is defined as: the initial offensive action made by extending the arm and continuously threatening the opponent's target, preceding the launching of the lunge or step. The flèche is illegal in sabre as a "crossover". In sabre the threat may be established with the point or the cutting edge, and the end of the attack coincides with the moment the front foot touches the strip.) Hitting with the blade after the front foot has landed constitutes a remise of the attack, and so an opponent's attack delivered at the same time would take the right of way in this case. Executing an attack which is preceded by a beat on the opponent's weapon. Passive: Establishing a point in line prior to the opponent initiating an attack. The hit must be completed with the point and have the point stick to their opponent's chest (not a poke that hits and then slides off). Derobement of the opponent's attempts to beat are allowed, but the point must continue to threaten the target, and a derobement when there is no attempt to beat also loses the right of way. If an attack is executed against an opponent who has point in line, the attacker must remove the point in line (i.e., with a beat, etc.). Simply making contact with the blade is insufficient and the blade must actually be moved aside. If an attempt to beat the blade is made, and missed (because of a derobe), the opponent maintains the right of way. Point in line can lose priorities regardless of whether the fencer is advancing, stationary, or retreating, but is lost if the arm is bent or the point is moved away from targeting the opponent. Defensive: