Kazakhstani fencers Maria and Polina Lesovskaya reached the podium in the women's epee event at the Asian U23 Fencing Championships in Bahrain. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
After successfully navigating the group stage, the Almaty-born sisters continued their winning run in the playoffs. 19-year-old Maria defeated Hsiu-Chu Shih of Chinese Taipei 15:9 and Aziza Khamidova of Uzbekistan 15:10. 17-year-old Polina beat Nazia Shiak of India 15:8, as well as Hong Kong's Sum Sofia Fong (15:11) and Man Wai Vivian Li (15:10).
The Lesovskaya derby in the semifinal went Maria's way 15:12. Having lost, Polina took bronze, while Maria advanced to the final against Chinese Taipei's Li-Hsiang Yung. She lost 5:15.
Kazakhstan's epeeists Natalya Zinyakova and Polina Fomina, who did not reach the quarterfinals, finished 11th and 12th respectively out of 34 participants.
Foil fencer Timofey Semenov came within one step of a medal. In the quarterfinals, the Kazakh lost to eventual bronze medalist Ulugbek Usmanov of Uzbekistan 2:15.
Gold ultimately went to Hong Kong's Kenji Tsun Yin, who defeated Adham Eldeeb of Qatar 15:14 in the final.
Kazakhstan's foil fencers Mansur Yesteu finished 10th, Galym Nurumov 19th, and Yevgeniy Tokanov 26th out of 47 participants.
The day before, Kazakh fencers won medals of all colors at the Asian U23 Fencing Championships in Bahrain. Epeeist Kirill Prokhodov won gold, sabre fencer Kaisha Zhanybek silver, and her national team teammate Dilyara Isabekova bronze.
The youth continental championship in Bahrain's capital Manama will run until November 2. Kazakh athletes will compete in all weapon categories.