Canada wins silver in men’s sabre, drop 45-37 decision to United States

TORONTO – The Canadian men’s sabre team won a fencing silver medal on Thursday at the Pan American Games after dropping a 45-37 decision to the United States in the final.

Shaul Gordon from Richmond, B.C., Toronto’s Mark Peros and Montreal’s Joseph Polossifakis made up the Canadian squad, which edged Venezuela to reach the gold-medal match.

Peros led the Canadians with 14 points while Gordon had 13. Polossifakis had 10, but was shutout 5-0 in the eighth head-to-head competition by Eli Dershwitz, which gave the American side a lead that Canada could never recover from.

Dershwitz led the American squad, which also included Daryl Homer and Jeff Spear, with 18 points. Homer had 14 points and Spear had 13.

Canada has five fencing medals in total at the Pan Ams — two silver and three bronze — with two more days of competition remaining.

Earlier, Argentina downed Venezuela 45-42 for the bronze medal.