Kazakhstan's fencers ascended the top step of the podium in the team events at the U23 Asian Fencing Championships in Manama, Bahrain, today. The gold medals were won by the women's sabre and men's epee teams. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The men upheld the reputation of Kazakhstani epee fencing, ranked first in the world. Kirill Prokhodov, Georgy Tinnikov and Mikhail Kuzmin successively defeated the teams of Kyrgyzstan (45:35) and Uzbekistan (45:39). In the final they overcame Hong Kong 45:44. Prokhodov, a world, Asian and Asian Games champion, added the team gold to his individual gold at the tournament in Bahrain.
In the women's sabre event, only three teams took part. The Hong Kong team advanced directly to the final by virtue of its higher ranking. The Kazakhstani fencers reached the final by defeating India 45:30. In the gold-medal match, Kaisha Zhanybek, Dilyara Isabekova and Adema Serikbay broke down the resistance of their opponents.
Before the final three bouts, our girls led by just one point – 30:29. The end of the match belonged to Kazakhstan – 45:36. Zhanybek added team gold to her individual silver. Isabekova is also returning home with two medals – bronze and gold.
The youth continental fencing championships in the Bahraini capital Manama will conclude tomorrow with the team events for foil fencers and women's epeeists.