India ‘A’ defeated India ‘B’ 45-29 to claim the title in the men’s epee team event while the hosts thrashed Sri Lanka to be crowned champions in the women’s foil team event at the South Asian fencing championships held at the Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy indoor stadium in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, in the individual events, India’s S. Jayanta Singh put up a splendid show to walk away with the men’s epee title while Ujjwal Gupta claimed top honours in the men’s sabre event. Jayanta, playing for India ‘A’, had been in splendid form throughout the tournament, and emerged the victor in a keenly-contested final against Ajinkya Dudhare, which ended 15-12 in his favour.
Earlier, in the semifinal, Jayanta held his nerve to edge past a competitive Amit Singh 15-14. Meanwhile, Ujjwal had enjoyed a similarly successful run into the final, where he got the better of Varinder Singh (India ‘A’) 15-13. In the semifinals, Ujjwal easily breached the defence of Rashid Ahmed time and again, winning 15-05. Ujjwal’s confidence would have been bolstered in the quarterfinal, where he blanked Sri Lanka’s Manjuala 15-00.