Russia's Alexander Kurzin broke the Chinese gold run at the Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Cheongju, South Korea, winning a massively competitive men’s sabre B event.
The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation competition at the Grand Plaza Cheongju Hotel is a key qualifying event for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
Kurzin earned a 15-10 victory in the final over China's Rio 2016 champion Feng Yanke.
In his semi-final, the Russian overcame the current world number two, Poland's Adrian Castro, 15-10.
Alexander Kurzin longed for nearly a decade for a world title. His wait is now over.
— Wheelchair Fencing (@IWASFencing) September 20, 2019
📽 ⬇️#Cheongju2019 | @Paralympics | @FIE_fencing | @RussianParalymp pic.twitter.com/zg74kZnGwB
Feng had advanced by beating the current world number one, Castro's compatriot Grzegorz Pluta, 15-7.
Earlier, Bian Jing had added another gold to the Chinese collection – bringing it to eight – in the women's sabre A event.
The Rio 2016 silver medallist in the epee A beat Poland's Kinga Drozdz 15-8 in the final having defeated compatriot and second seed Gu Haiyan 15-11 in the semi-final.
Drozdz advanced thanks to a 19-5 win over Ukraine's top seed Yevheniia Breus.
Ukraine's Natalia Morkvych, the defending and European champion, was beaten 15-7 by China's Wang Xiujian in the round-of-16.
There was a second Russian triumph on the day as Nikolay Lukyanov won the men's foil C title, beating Latvia's Dmitrijs Valainis 15-7 in the final.
