Kazakh fencers competed at the Asian Fencing Championships, which started in the capital of India, in women's foil and men's sabre events. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Sofia Aktaeva lost in the 1/8 finals to South Korean fencer Mo Bel 4:15 and finished 12th. Alena Gnoeva lost one round earlier with the same score to Japanese fencer Komaki Kukuchi and finished 22nd. Alina Iskanderova finished 40th out of 59 fencers.
Kukuchi eventually won bronze, and the women's foil podium was entirely Japanese. First place went to Yuki Ueno, second to Sera Azuma.
In men's sabre, Olympic champion Oh Sang-uk from South Korea became Asian champion. Silver went to Chinese fencer Shaotong Luo, bronze was shared by Japanese Shido Tsumori and South Korean Do Gyeong-dong.
Kazakh sabre fencers Artyom Sarkisyan and Zhanat Nabiyev reached the 1/8 finals. Sarkisyan finished 11th, Nabiyev 16th. Nazarbay Sattarkhan lost in the 1/16 finals by a single touch to bronze medalist Tsumori 14:15, finishing 21st. Bakdaulet Kuralbekuly finished 55th out of 69 fencers.
The Asian Fencing Championships were first held in 1973. There was a long break until 1989. Since 2007, the tournament has been held annually. The 29th edition features 26 Kazakh athletes in all weapon categories.