Kazakhstan's epee fencers caused a sensation at the World Fencing Championships in Hong Kong, winning gold in the team event. The squad of Ruslan Kurbanov, Kirill Prokhodov, Yertay Serlik, and Vadim Sharlaimov claimed the top prize, the best result in the nation's history at world championships, where previously only bronze medals had been achieved, according to infohub.kz.
On the closing day of competition, Kazakhstan's women's foil and men's saber teams bowed out after the first round of the team events. Sofya Aktayeva, Alena Gnoyeva, and Alina Iskanderova fell to Russian foil fencers 16-45 in the round of 16, placing 21st among 26 teams.
The men's saber team of Artyom Sarkisyan, Nazarbay Sattarkhan, Nurmukhammed Zhaylybay, and Kuanysh Ergashbay lost to Spain 37-45 in the first round, despite building a 10-2 lead after two bouts. They ended up 18th out of 35 teams.
Earlier, the epee team captured gold in brilliant fashion. Until now, Kazakhstan's best results at world championships were bronze medals: Kurbanov's individual bronze in Milan 2023 and the epee team bronze in Tbilisi 2025. The president warmly congratulated the champions on their historic gold.
The World Championships in Hong Kong will conclude on July 30 with the team finals in women's foil and men's saber. Kazakh fencers did not excel in the individual events. The tournament, held for the 71st time and for the first time in Hong Kong, features 12 medal events and a prize fund of $1.02 million.