Georgia take women’s team sabre crown
06/07/2021
Georgia claimed gold in a tense final of the women’s team sabre at the 2021 International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation (IWAS) Wheelchair Fencing World Championships on Tuesday (6 July).
Full results can be found here and the competition can be watched-back at the IWAS YouTube channel.
The gold medal match was a close affair, with the lead changing five times during the clash between Georgia’s Gvantsa Zadishvili, Nino Tibiashvili and Irma Khetsuriani and Ukraine’s Natalia Morkvych, Yevheniia Breus and Olena Fedota.
Ukraine regained the lead by just one point heading into the final round. Morkvych carved out the narrow edge against Zadishvili, handing over responsibility to maintain the lead to Breus.
But 2019 World Championships silver medallists Georgia were not letting go. Tibiashvili drew the scores level once again at 43-43 before edging ahead and then landing the decisive blow and exploding with delight.
Hosts Poland did not leave empty handed, securing bronze. Kinga Drozdz, Patrycja Hareza, Marta Fidrych and Jadwiga Pacek made-up the third-placed team.
Ukraine’s Serhii Shavkun made it two golds out of two in the men’s sabre category C.
Following on from his epee title from Monday (5 July), Shavkun improved on his sabre bronze medal from the 2019 World Championships.
Italy’s Leonardo Rigo took second after overcoming Latvian defending silver medallist Dmitrijs Valainis for a place in the final. Valainis added to his epee bronze from the day before whilst the RPC’s Alexander Logutenko also doubled-up on podium finishes.
Italy’s Nora Consuelo claimed gold in the women’s unofficial sabre category C, ahead of Georgia’s Diana Jishiashvili.
The 2021 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Category C and Team Sabre World Championships concluded on Tuesday.
The first World Cup for more than one year follows in Warsaw on Thursday (8 July). Live results can be found here as well as live coverage on the IWAS YouTube channel.