Analytical Study of Touch Areas and Preparatory Movements Leading to The Touch in Epee Fencing in The Men's Team Final at The Paris 2024 Paralympics

Abstract

In sports where technical performance is crucial, quantitative analysis methods have evolved to track skill performance using modern training methods and technology. This helps trainers evaluate training methods and detect performance issues. Coaches and athletes know that preliminary movements improve attack accuracy, but the association between motions (strikes, presses, crushes) and target regions (torso, armed arm, head) has not been thoroughly investigated. Lack of studies on Paralympic fencing's targeted contact regions and ambiguity around the most common preliminary actions highlight the research problem. The study examined epee fencers' successful movement sequences in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games' final bouts and touch success rates by touch area (torso, head, armed arm). It also examined the use and success rates of anticipatory assault movements (strikes, pressures, crushes) by touch regions (torso, head, armed arm). To follow study procedures, researchers used descriptive and survey methods. Twelve epee fencers from Iraq, China, England, and Poland competed in the Paris 2024 Paralympics' final round. Technical and tactical performance focuses on touches from the armed arm as a near target, indicating competitive criteria, skill specificity, and players' knowledge in selecting locations that increase attack success, according to the study. The skillful performance of anticipatory assault movements depends heavily on strikes, moderately on pushes, and very weakly on crushes. Team tactics affect touch strategy diversity. Technically sophisticated teams focus on armed arm touches for tactical efficiency, while others use the torso to avoid counterattacks.