CHEONGJU, South Korea, Sept. 17-23, 2019—Athletes from China took 11 of 22 gold medals at the 2019 Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Cheongju, South Korea, competing in both team and individual events in epee, foil and sabre. Events were held in the three categories—A, B and C—relating to severity of athlete impairment (category C being the most severe).*
Several notable and exciting moments of competition took place at the World Championships. China’s Shumei Tan was a distinctive competitor, earning gold medals in both sabre and epee in category B; it has been just over a year since she entered world fencing. Italy’s 22-year-old Paralympic champion Beatrice Vio took her third-consecutive win in women’s category B foil, and Paralympic medallists Jianquan Tian, Xufeng Zou, Jing Rong, Yenke Feng and Jing Bian also took gold medals for China. Hungary won women’s team foil against Hong Kong by a single touch, 45-44, and in individual men’s sabre, Russia’s Alexander Kurzin took the gold after pursuing victory over nine years of international competition and six World Championships.
The 2019 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships are a crucial competition in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Full results are available here and competition can be watched on-demand on the IWAS YouTube channel.
The next event will be the final IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup of the year in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from November 14-17.
*Men’s and women’s sabre in category C did not take place, and category C women’s epee and foil results were run as unofficial with three competitors in each event.
INDIVIDUAL
Category A
Men’s Epee Piers Gilliver (GBR)
Women’s Epee Xufeng Zou (CHN)
Men’s Foil Liqiang Chen (CHN)
Women’s Foil Jing Rong (CHN)
Men’s Sabre Jianquan Tian (CHN)
Women’s Sabre Jing Bian (CHN)
Category B
Men’s Epee Dimitri Coutya (GBR)
Women’s Epee Shumei Tan (CHN)
Men’s Foil Yanke Feng (CHN)
Women’s Foil Beatrice Maria Vio (ITA)
Men’s Sabre Alexander Kurzin (RUS)
Women’s Sabre Shumei Tan (CHN)
Category C
Men’s Epee Serhii Shavkun (UKR)
Women’s Epee (unofficial) Consuelo Nora (ITA)
Men’s Foil Nikolay Lukyanov (RUS)
Women’s Foil (unofficial) Hann Pashkova (UKR)
Men’s Sabre n/a
Women’s Sabre n/a
TEAM
Men’s Epee Russia
Women’s Epee China
Men’s Foil China
Women’s Foil Hungary
Men’s Sabre Ukraine
Women’s Sabre China
photo credits: Bizzi/FIE