Nineteen-year-old Kazakhstani epee fencer Kirill Prokhodov claimed silver at the Asian Games fencing tournament in Japan, losing the final 13:15 to Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic champion and two-time world champion Koki Kano of Japan, infohub.kz reports.
Prokhodov's run to the final was confident. In the semifinals he beat Fong Hoi Sun of Hong Kong 15:13. In the quarterfinals he defeated two-time Asian champion Minghao Lan of China 15:7. In the second round of the knockout stage he got past Taiwan's Yuli Gaston Gillemot 15:14, and in his opening elimination bout he crushed Abdulrahman Aljadra 15:2. In the group stage, the 19-year-old fencer won five of six bouts.
The leader of Kazakhstan's epee fencers, Ruslan Kurbanov, as well as sabre fencers Aigerim Sarybay and Anastasia Gulik, did not reach the medal bouts.
At Asian Games fencing tournaments, Kazakhstan has won three gold, four silver and 13 bronze medals. The day before, sabre fencer Artyom Sarkisyan won the 14th bronze. Prokhodov's medal is the fifth silver.
Kazakhstan's epee team has been Asian Games champion twice (1994, 2002). In the same weapon, Dmitry Alexanin took first place at the 2018 Asian Games.
The XX Summer Asian Games officially opened on September 19 and will end on October 4. Athletes from 45 countries are competing for 460 sets of medals. Kazakhstan's team at the 2026 Asian Games includes 558 athletes in 35 sports.
On the first day of the Games, Kazakhstan won four gold medals. Cyclists Rinata Sultanova and Alexey Lutsenko became champions, along with karate athletes Zholaman Bigabyl and Sofya Berultseva. MMA fighter Yerkingali Burkutalin added the team's fifth gold. The sixth came from his mixed martial arts teammate Kadyrbek Shynbayev. The day before, Lutsenko became a two-time champion of the 2026 Asian Games. The eighth gold medal was won today by rowers Vladislav Yakovlev and Ivan Chernukhin in the men's coxless pairs.
After four days of the Games, Kazakhstan was in fourth place in the unofficial medal standings.