Services bag gold in men’s foil team; Bhupen emerges epee Champion

Pune, Mar 27:

The Services team emerged winners in the men’s foil team category defeating Manipur in the final of the 33rd Senior National Fencing Championship at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here today.
Services also dominated the men’s individual epee category as two of their players, Bhupen Singh Lisham and Sunil Kumar, clinched gold and silver respectively.
In a one-sided affair, the Services foil team, comprising Arjun, Bibish Kathiresan, Ismile Mohammed Khan and Bicky Thokchom, defeated Manipur 45-32.
The Manipur team had Abhinash Kangabam, Rajiv Khoisanam, Tuphan Nandeibam and Hemansh Sanasam in their ranks.
Services had defeated Maharashtra 45-29 in the semi-final, while Manipur prevailed over Chhattisgarh 45-39 in the other last-four clash.
Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh were both awarded bronze medals.
In the senior men’s epee category, 22-year-old Bhupen bagged gold defeating Sunil Kumar 15-11.
Bhupen had stormed into the final after outplaying RS Sherjin of Chhattisgarh in the first semi-final 15-10, while Sunil got the better of Madhya Pradesh’s Shakar Pandey 15-10. (PTI)