Hungary defeated France to take team gold at the Épée World Cup in Paris ©FIE

France's Nelson Lopez Pourtier won a sensational gold medal in the individual épée at the International Fencing Federation (FIE) World Cup in Paris, while Hungary won the team tournament.

Lopez Pourtier faced Kazakhstan's Ruslan Kurbanov at the final in the Stade Pierre de Coubertin where he prevailed 15-11.

World number 48 Lopez Pourtier finished 66th in his last World Cup appearance in Bern last November.

Following that he has placed 61st and 102nd in the Doha and Budapest Grands Prix in January and March, respectively.

In the semi-final, Lopez Pourtier snuck past Hungarian Mate Tamas Koch 15-14, while Kurbanov defeated Frenchman Alexandre Bardenet 15-13.

Olympic champions Romain Cannone of France and Venezuela's Rubén Limardo both suffered shock defeats and crashed out in the quarter-finals and round of 16, respectively.

Nelson Lopez Pourtier, second from left, won the first World Cup gold medal of his career in Paris ©FIE
Nelson Lopez Pourtier, second from left, won the first World Cup gold medal of his career in Paris ©FIE

In the team épée, Hungary beat the hosts 45-36 in the gold-medal match.

Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Gergely Siklósi headlined the Hungarian quartet alongside Tibor Andrasfi, Koch and David Nagy.

France beat Japan 45-36 in the final four as Hungary narrowly beat Ukraine 45-42.

The Japanese took the last place on the podium after beating Ukraine 40-39 in the bronze-medal match.

A total of 282 individual fencers and 39 teams took part in the men's FIE World Cup in the French capital.