J&K wins gold in Women’s team sabre, creates history

SRINAGAR: In the ongoing 32nd Senior National Fencing Championship held at Amritsar, Punjab, J&K Women Team won the Gold medal and created history by being the first fencing team of J&K to secure the first place.
The championship was held from 13th-16th of this month and J&K comprised of ace fencer Shriya Gupta, Anant Samaskshi, Jaspreet Kour and Rishika Khajuria.
J&K also added one more medal to the kitty in the individual event when in men’s category Vishal Thappar won the Bronze medal.
Earlier, J&K Women Team stormed into the finals of the championship backed by the some stellar performance of the fencers all through.
The J&K team clashed with Punjab in the summit clash, though Punjab fencers refused to hand an easy win to the J&K at times, closing the gap rapidly as the two teams chased each other across the piste, swiping and jabbing but holding on to their nerves J&K sailed through with the final score of 45-42 in a tense final.
Congratulating the Fencing Team, Secretary, J&K Sports Council Nuzhat Gull said that our athletes are proving their mettle on the bigger stages and the advantage that the boom in sports infrastructure of J&K has brought is reflected in the incredible performance of our athletes day in and day out.
She said many more training centers are being set up across J&K and the centre for excellence in fencing shall be operational soon besides a similar centre for water sports. She said preparations for bringing these centers at par with international standards are underway and our athletes will benefit immensely from the ventures.
Gull also congratulated the team coach Shottu Lal Sharma for his role in fine tuning the athletes and preparing them well for major events.
Backed by some splendid performance four fencers from J&K have been shortlisted for Asian camp which shall be held for an extended period of two months and fencers will be trained by the best brains of the country in the game. The four players include Shriya Gupta, Riya Bakshi, Vishal Thapar and Mayank Sharma.