New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): The Senior Asian Fencing Championships 2026 kicked off in spectacular style on Friday on the iconic Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The prestigious match opened at 9:00 AM IST with high-octane preliminary swimming pools and preliminary direct elimination rounds in two main particular person classes: Senior Men’s Sabre and Senior Women’s Foil.
Competing in entrance of an electrical residence crowd, India’s most interesting fencers set an extremely excessive benchmark of athleticism because the journey towards the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic cycle formally heats up, in keeping with a press launch from FAI.
While regional powerhouses from South Korea, Japan, and China dominated the ultimate podium standings, Indian fencers confirmed unimaginable grit to safe essential milestones on the continental stage.
In the Senior Men’s Sabre occasion, South Korea’s world icon Oh Sanguk lived as much as his famous person billing, navigating a extremely aggressive subject to seize the Gold medal over China’s Luo Shaotong, whereas top-seeded Do Gyeongdong of South Korea and Tsumori Shido of Japan secured the joint bronze honours to finish the highest three spots.
The host nation loved a extremely encouraging outing on this class
, efficiently fielding three athletes into the match’s prestigious high 32. Vishal Thapar led the Indian males’s contingent with a powerful run to in the end end twenty second general, adopted intently by Karan Singh, who battled fiercely towards elite opposition to safe a remaining rating of twenty fifth, and Gisho Nidhi Kumaresan Padma, who confirmed outstanding composure to seal a remaining placement at twenty eighth.
India’s Lakshay Badser additionally put up a commendable battle, narrowly lacking out on the top-32 direct elimination bracket to complete thirty third within the continent.
The Senior Women’s Foil competitors remodeled into an absolute masterclass by the Japanese contingent, the place World No. 5 Yuka Ueno captured the continental crown in an all-Japan remaining towards teammate Sera Azuma to take Gold and Silver respectively. Komaki Kikuchi of Japan and Daphne Chan Nok Sze of Hong Kong shared the Bronze podium positions to spherical out the highest three finishers.
For Team India, a serious efficiency shift from preliminary pool projections was highlighted by a standout efficiency from Kanupriya Chawla. Chawla spearheaded the Indian girls’s foil group with an distinctive efficiency, efficiently advancing deep into the knockout brackets to safe an excellent Twentieth-place end in Asia.
Meanwhile, her teammates Joys Ashitha Stalinraj, Naorem Mina Devi, and Sonia Devi Waikhom confronted an extremely steep studying curve towards deep rosters from world-class applications; they picked up immense worldwide expertise however have been unable to cross the afternoon cuts, ending forty third, forty fifth, and forty sixth, respectively.
With the person curtains drawn on Sabre and Foil, the momentum now shifts to the remaining weapon disciplines. Day 1 has efficiently laid down a significant baseline for India’s quickly rising fencing program, proving that the house workforce can go toe-to-toe with Asia’s elite underneath the very best aggressive stress at Bharat Mandapam. (ANI)