Alkass Digital
France's world champion Yannick Borel and Estonias Katrina Lehis took individual gold medals at the 2022 Qatar Fencing Epee Grand Prix in Doha, the event, which took place at Aspire Dome brought together 304 athletes from 45 countries.
In the final match of individual men's epee, Borel faced teammate Aymerick Gally, winning with a 15-10 score, Gally beat Italy's Federico Vismara in the semifinals, 15-6, and Borel defeated Italy's Davide Di Veroli, 15-9.
French Olympic champion Romain Cannone lost in the quarterfinals to Borel, 15-5, and Hungarian world champion Gergely Siklosi lost against Di Veroli in the round of 16, 15-12.
In women's individual epee, Lehis won in the final round against teammate Nelli Differt, 15-11, Differt beat another teammate, Erika Kirpu, in the semifinal round, 12-11, and Lehis won against France's Marie-Florence Candassamy, 15-14, while Candassamy beat Ukrainian Olympic champion Yana Shemyakina in the quarterfinals, 15-9.
Katrina Lehis said in a press statement after the coronation: "It is a nice feeling to finally achieve a great title in the world of fencing".
"Since the beginning of the competitions, each match was more difficult than the previous one, and my colleagues and I from the Estonian team succeeded in appearing in the semi-finals, and winning a Grand Prix title is a great event worth celebrating, but the conditions of Corona and the precautionary measures always make us not take long to celebrate and look for the upcoming competitions," Katrina added.
Yannick Borel, expressed his happiness for winning his second title in Qatar after the 2019 title, and his fourth in the Grand Prix championships, as he had previously won the bronze medal and third place in the 2015 edition.
For his part, Secretary-General of the Qatar Fencing Federation, Khalid Al Hammadi, assured the great success of this year's Grand Prix championship, which is an extension of the series of successes achieved in the epee weapon tournaments.
Al Hammadi also thanked the Aspire Academy, which harnessed all its capabilities to bring the tournament to the hoped-for success, especially in the unlimited logistical support, He also expressed his happiness with the technical level of the tournament.
Head of Aspire Academy Venues and Facilities Committee at Aspire Academy and a member of the Organizing Committee, Feras Btaddini, described hosting the current edition of the Grand Prix fencing championship in the in the epee weapon as a great challenge.