Israeli fencer Yuval Freilich, seen here four years ago. [Flash90 photo]

Israel’s Yuval Freilich won the men’s epee competition at the recent World Cadet and Junior Fencing Championships in Moscow.

Freilich, 17, defeated Poland’s Sebastian Majgier by a score of 15-6 in the final, vaulting him into position as number 1-ranked epee cadet in the world.

Freilich advanced to the final with a 15-5 victory over Hungary’s Balazs Hamar.

Earlier, Israel’s cadet team won second place in the epee event at the European Championships in Croatia. The team, which includes Freilich – who won an individual silver medal – as well as Ariel Drizin, Maxim Pozdnyakov and Daniel Fridman, fell to Ukraine in the final, 45-36.

In the semifinal, the team defeated France 45-35, after beating the Czech Republic 45-36 and Sweden 45-28.

“It’s an amazing team achievement,” said fencing chairperson Lydia Hatuel-Zuckerman.