A single touch in the quarter-final
Begin Wout van Laecke’s route to bronze in Dakar with his quarter-final. He beat Mordechai Milu Lachman 15-14, moving into the last 4. The margin at that threshold was 1 touch, much narrower than his preceding 15-7 win against Caleb Caldito Chan in the round of 16. That quarter-final result kept his passage through the elimination draw alive.[1]
Simon Shan was next in the semi-final, where Van Laecke lost 10-15. The win over Lachman had taken him to that stage; the score against Shan decided which of them would enter the gold medal bout. Shan had beaten Juan Esteban Plazas Garzon 15-6 in his quarter-final. His place in the final therefore followed successive wins in separate rounds of the draw.[1]
Van Laecke still had a medal contest to play, against Stefan Popa for bronze. He won it 15-12. His semi-final defeat left that separate opportunity available. The bronze rested on winning this last bout after surviving the narrow quarter-final; the defeat between those victories remained part of the same tournament route.[1]
Two routes to the podium
Popa reached the semi-finals by beating Ali Alfuzaya 13-11. He then lost 6-15 to Vukan Radjenovic and 12-15 to Van Laecke in the bronze bout. The two defeated semi-finalists met for that medal. Van Laecke’s place on the podium depended on his result against Popa as well as his earlier progress into the last 4.[1]
Shan won gold by beating Radjenovic 15-9. Van Laecke’s final three bouts read 15-14, 10-15 and 15-12. In sequence, they mark advancement in the quarter-final, the end of his gold medal route in the semi-final, and victory for bronze. Van Laecke finished on the Dakar podium with a bronze-bout victory after his semi-final defeat.[1]