It is not every day a young fencer gets to pit their wits against an Olympic champion but this is precisely the opportunity that presented itself recently to half a dozen hopefuls from across Europe at the Vasas Sport Club in Budapest.

Inside the club’s Kovács Pál fencing hall in the autumn, these six youngsters – four female athletes from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Israel and Spain, along with members of the Poland men’s national team and Serbia men’s junior sabre team – found themselves sparring with the two-time Olympic gold medalist Áron Szilágyi.

They were there, in close proximity with a Hungarian fencing hero, thanks to the Club Movement Initiative (CMI), the FIE programme designed to take the best practices from the sport’s hotspots and distribute them around the world. This is a programme which supports young athletes from countries where fencing is growing, helping them develop their technique and potential.