Surprise winner in Olympic sabre

Aron Szilagyi of Hungary ended a day of surprises Sunday by capturing the Olympic gold medal in men's individual sabre. One unexpected result after another piled up before Szilagyi gave Hungary its first gold medal of the London Olympics by downing Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy in the finals. Szilagyi jumped to an 8-1 lead and easily held for a 15-8 victory. The new gold medalist is ranked sixth in the world. Nikolay Kovalev of Russia won the bronze with a 15-10 decision over Rares Dumitrescu of Romania. Dumitrescu eliminated American Daryl Homer in the quarterfinals. Defending champion Zhong Man of China fell in the round of 16 to Szilagyi while Homer ousted world second-ranked Alexey Yamimenko of Russia in the same round. Aldo Montano, who won the 2004 gold medal in Athens, was also an early round victim to Occhiuzzi.