The men's team sabre was one of seven fencing events on the fencing at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held from 10 August 1948 to 11 August 1948. 85 fencers from 17 nations competed.
The competition format continued the pool play round-robin from prior years. Each of the four fencers from one team would face each of the four from the other, for a total of 16 bouts per match. The team that won more bouts won the match, with competition potentially stopping when one team reached 9 points out of the possible 16 (this did not always occur and matches sometimes continued). If the bouts were 8âÂÂ8, touches received was used to determine the winning team. Pool matches unnecessary to the result were not played.
The top two teams in each pool advanced to round 2.
Egypt (13âÂÂ3) and Czechoslovakia (9âÂÂ2) each defeated Mexico.
Austria (14âÂÂ2) and France (9âÂÂ1) each defeated Switzerland.
Poland (11âÂÂ5) and Belgium (9âÂÂ2) each defeated Turkey.
The Netherlands (13âÂÂ3) and Italy (9âÂÂ1) each defeated Canada.
The United States (14âÂÂ2) and Argentina (9âÂÂ1) each defeated Greece.
Denmark withdrew, leaving Great Britain and Hungary to advance unopposed.
The top two teams in each pool advanced to the semifinals.
Belgium (13âÂÂ3) and Hungary (9âÂÂ3) each defeated Egypt.
The United States (11âÂÂ5) and Italy (9âÂÂ4) each defeated Great Britain.
Argentina beat the Netherlands 9âÂÂ7, the Netherlands beat Czechoslovakia 10âÂÂ6, and Argentina defeated Czechoslovakia 9âÂÂ7.
France (10âÂÂ6) and Poland (8âÂÂ8, 55âÂÂ59 touches against) each defeated Austria.
The top two teams in each pool advanced to the final.
Hungary beat Argentina 15âÂÂ1, Belgium defeated Poland 9âÂÂ7, Belgium defeated Argentina 9âÂÂ4, and Hungary beat Poland 12âÂÂ3.
Italy beat the Netherlands 13âÂÂ3, the United States defeated France 11âÂÂ5, the United States defeated the Netherlands 9âÂÂ2, and Italy beat France 9âÂÂ5.
In the first pairings, Italy defeated Belgium and Hungary beat the United States, each by a score of 10âÂÂ6. Hungary (9âÂÂ1 over Belgium) and Italy (8âÂÂ8 over the United States, prevailing by touches received 59âÂÂ61) won again in the second set of matches as well. The United States beat Belgium 10âÂÂ5 in a de facto bronze medal match, while Hungary prevailed 10âÂÂ6 over Italy for the gold medal.