Officials at a fencing tournament in Austria misplaced a recording of the Israeli national anthem this week, leaving two Israeli teenagers who had won awards to sing a capella.

The two Israelis won gold and bronze medals at the European Cup fencing tournament for under 17s. Dana Stralinkov, 14, won gold and Alona Komarov, 13 won bronze.

But the Austrian official in charge of arranging the national anthems played when the winners went on the podium said he could not locate the recording of ‘Hatikvah’.

After a few minutes of silence, the two teens sang the Israeli anthem themselves, with no backing track.
Coach Ya’akov Friedman said: “It was a very moving moment.”