Russia's Egorian wins world fencing gold as neutral athlete / Photo: Giorgi ARJEVANIDZE - AFP
Russia's Egorian wins world fencing gold as neutral athlete
Russia's two-time Olympic sabre champion Yana Egorian, competing under a neutral banner, was on Sunday crowned fencing world champion amid protests in Tbilisi.
Egorian defeated Poland's Zuzanna Cieslar 15-11 in the final in the Georgian capital.
The 31-year-old, who won both the individual and team titles at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won her first world championship individual gold medal.
Egorian is among the Russian and Belarusian fencers allowed to compete under a neutral banner, despite being a member of CSKA Moscow, a club historically linked to the Russian military.
On Sunday, dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of the Olympic Palace in Tbilisi to protest at the participation of fencers from both countries, some of whom "are military personnel", protesters told the Interpressnews agency.
In July, the International Fencing Federation (IFF) decided to simplify its procedure for granting Neutral Individual Athlete (NIA) status, allowing the return of certain fencers who had been excluded from competition following the Kremlin's Ukraine offensive.
That decision sparked debate both before and during the world championships.
In the other final of the day, Japan's Koki Kano, Olympic epee champion in Paris, won the title, defeating Hungary's Gergely Siklosi.
D.Fischer--FFMTZ
