By Shaikhah Al Tamimi (OCA Young Reporter from Kuwait)
Hangzhou, China, September 29, 2023: Uzbekistan’s women’s sabre team snatched its first-ever fencing gold in the 19th Asian Games, while Japan defended its men's epee team gold title as the fencing events concluded on Friday at Hangzhou Dianzi University Gymnasium.
Uzbekistan beat Japan 45-42 in the women’s sabre final, while Japan edged Kazakhstan 36-35 in the men’s epee final.
In the women’s team sabre final, the competition was fierce as Japan took the initiative through world No. 2 Misaki Emura and was marching towards victory despite 10 hits secured by Uzbek’s Gulistan Perdebaeva in the third bout.
But Japan’s early momentum was interrupted on the sixth round when Zaynab Dayibekova, the bronze medalist of the individual event, took on Japan’s substitute Kanae Kobayashi.
The contest then turned in Uzbekistan's favor as Dayibekova outscored her opponent 8-4 to astonishingly take the lead 30-29.
With quick and swift precise movements, Uzbekistan then held on with the advantage to make history with a 45-42 victory secured by Dayibekova.
As for the men’s fencing team event, Kazakhstan’s epee team held its own miraculously up until the final bout, leading to an extra round to settle the score once and for all with the Olympic champions Japan.
With a yellow penalty on the second bout between Koki Kano and Ruslan Kurbanov and a red penalty on the seventh round between Akira Komata and Kurbanov, the score was tied at 20-20, 25-25 and 31-31 until the last bout.
The two teams were still level at 35 after nine rounds, before individual gold medalist Koki Kano of Japan scored the decisive point against Elmir Alimzhanov to defend their title 36-35 and offer a dazzling performance to their cheering fans.
South Korea led the fencing tally with six gold, three silver and three bronze medals, followed by China's 2-4-2.
