The best Bulgarian fencer Yoana Ilieva won a gold medal at the Women's Sabre World Cup in Plovdiv. In the final of the competition at the "Kolodruma" hall, she prevailed with 15:13 points over the Italian Chiara Mormille and thus for the first time in history climbed to the highest step of the honorary ladder in a World Cup competition, BTA reported.
In the final duel, Mormille, who was ranked tenth, led 10:8, but Ilieva showed character and turned it around to 14:13, after which she reached the final success with a decisive attack. So far, the Bulgarian has won two bronze medals at tournaments of similar rank.
On her way to gold, Ilieva was uncompromising and achieved a decisive victory in every match. She started with a 15:5 victory over China's Yun Chen, and in the next round she also overcame the resistance of Kelly Lusignier from France with 15:11. In the round of 16, Ilieva defeated Sugar Batay from Hungary with 15:8. In the quarterfinals, another convincing victory followed - over China's Xinyu Zhang with 15:10, and in the battle for a place in the final, the best Bulgarian saber fencer left no chance for the representative of Greece - Despina Iorgiadou, defeating her with 15:8.
The other Bulgarian in the eliminations of the tournament - Olga Khramova, reached the round of 16 of the tournament. In the first two rounds, she overcame the resistance of Ying Fu (China) with 15:12 and Hyeon Jeong (Republic of Korea) with 15:14. In the round of 16, Khramova led the Japanese Yuina Kaneko with 13:11, but she made a comeback and was eliminated from the competition. The tournament is attended by 175 fencers from 32 countries, including eight of the top 10 in the world rankings.
On Sunday, the World Cup in Plovdiv continues with the men's and women's sabre team competitions, with expectations again for an excellent performance by the Bulgarian fencers.
"I still can't make sense of it. I'm very happy. Honestly, I was so concentrated in the game that I still can't believe that I came first at the World Cup. I hope the best is yet to come," Ilieva told BTA immediately after the final.
So far, Ilieva has had two third places in World Cup competitions and today she managed to climb the highest step of the honorary ladder for the first time. "You saw that there was a lot of audience that supported me the whole time and was by my side. The last two times I came third, I knew I could do more and I felt that Plovdiv would be my place," she added.