KUWAIT: The Asian Fencing Championship began on Saturday with the participation of 350 fencers from around 36 countries, hosted by Kuwait until Thursday June 27th.

The championship was opened under the patronage of Minister of Social, Family and Childhood Affairs, State Minister for Youth Affairs Dr Amthal Al-Huwailah and in the presence of the President of Asian Fencing Federation Sheikh Salem Al-Qasimi and President of Kuwait Olympic Committee Sheikh Fahad Nasser Al-Sabah.

President of Kuwait Fencing Federation Abdulkareem Al-Shamlan said during his opening speech that Kuwait is the cradle of sport gatherings and is a fertile land for communications between people of the world with sporting spirit.

He said this championship is a basic element in developing the fencing game in Asia, as wished participants success. He said the ranking of fencers participating in the Olympics will be affected based on their results in the current championship, as he pointed the difficulty of competition and its importance for participating teams.

First day results in the saber had the Korean Oh Sang-Uk winning the gold medal by beating China’s Chinbing Chin who won silver, while Kuwait’s Yousuf Al-Shamlan and Iran’s Mohammad Rahbari won bronze. Meanwhile in the women epee China’s Sehan Yu won gold beating her compatriot Sun Yiwen who won silver, while Korea’s Mi Yung and Sera Sung won bronze.