Kazakhstan's epee fencers failed to break into the top eight at the World Fencing Championships in Hong Kong. Kirill Prokhodov finished 16th, and Ruslan Kurbanov placed 18th, according to infohub.kz.
All four Kazakh representatives successfully passed the preliminary rounds but could not advance past the round of 16. Prokhodov defeated Finland's Kerkko Järvi (15:5) and Denmark's Konrad Kongstad (15:9), but then lost to Japan's Masaru Yamada, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and 2025 world team champion, 11:15.
Kazakhstan's leading epee fencer, Ruslan Kurbanov, fell short of his result in Tbilisi last year, where he placed ninth. The 34-year-old fencer thrashed Israel's Yehonatan Lambrey Messica (15:7) but then unexpectedly lost to Japan's Ryu Matsumoto, who is ranked below him, 9:10.
Yertai Serlik lost to South Korea's Oh Min Kwon, 10:15. Vadim Sharlaimov fell to Cruz Shembery of the U.S. Virgin Islands, 9:15. In the final standings, Serlik placed 41st, Sharlaimov 50th.
Kazakhstan's female sabre fencers, who had performed well in the preliminary bouts, also struggled today. Aigerim Sarybay lost to South Korea's Jeon Ha Yeong, the team silver medalist at Paris 2024, 10:15, and finished 53rd. Karina Dospay fell to Italy's Michela Battiston, 7:15, taking 57th place. Anastasia Gulik suffered the same score against Hungary's two-time world team champion Sugar Katinka Battai, ending in 61st.
Winners in the individual epee and sabre events will be determined this evening. Team competitions in these weapons will take place on July 29.
The World Fencing Championships are being held for the 71st time. Twelve sets of medals will be awarded at the tournament. The first winners were determined the previous day. The prize fund for the 2026 World Championships is $1.02 million.