17th Open State Fencing Championship concludes

*Vansh, Shreya, Sangram bag gold
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 28: 17th Open State Fencing Championship, organised by J&K Amateur Fencing Association in collaboration with J&K State Sports Council and Directorate of Sports and Physical Education, University of Jammu concluded at Gymnasium Hall, University of Jammu, here today.
Prof Keshav Sharma, Dean Academic Affair, University of Jammu was the chief guest on the occasion, while Dr Meenakshi Kilam, Registrar University of Jammu was the guest of honour.
Haji Abdul Quoom, Chief Sports Officer J&K State Sports Council, Ravi Singh, Divisional Sports Officer and Dr Daud Iqbal Baba, Director Sports and Physical Education, University of Jammu were the special guests.
About 200 fencers from various districts of the State participated in three days competition.
Earlier, MJ Sharma in his key note address welcomed the dignitaries, guests and participants and highlighted the achievements of the Association.
He said that during the current year, the State fencers gave a commendable performance and bagged 9 medals in national events and 1 medal in International event. The special achievement was the bronze medal bagged by Shreya Gupta and gold medal bagged by Vishal Thapar in International event at UK.
Moreover, J&K’s 5 fencers have been selected for World University Games to be held at Italy.
The chief guest appreciated the efforts of the Association in promoting the game of fencing in the State and encouraging the players to give their best.
Dr Meenakshi Kilam also applauded the achievements of the players and appreciated the Idea of conducting Tournaments in the University of Jammu. in this concluding function members of J&K Amateur Fencing Association, Vijay Sharma, Patron, Mohinder Sharma General Secratary, Falail Singh, Sr. Vice President and MM Sharma, Treasurer of the Association, Chief Coach Chotu Lal Sharma, Rachna Jamwal, Fencing Coach J&K State Sports Council and Bheesham Slathia Fencing coach University of Jammu Fencing Academy were also present.
The technical committee for smooth conduct of the Championship included Anthony Matoo, Ajay Khartol, Tony Mattoo, Abdul Qadir, Shivani Hans, Mokshi Sharma, Pritam Slathia and Shreys Chib.
In Under-17 Sabre Girls, Shreya Gupta won gold, Kritharthi Kotwal bagged silver and the bronze was shared by Malvi Arora and Ananya Sharma, while in Senior Epee boys, gold medal was clinched by Sangram Singh, silver went to Tariq Hussain and the bronze medal was claimed by Sahiban Singh and Sourabh Manhas.
In Senior Sabre boys, Vansh Mahajan won gold, Mayank Sharm bagged silver, while the bronze medal was shared by Rudra Partap and Udeyveer Singh.