The legend of Zorro may have more life left in it yet, but this morning has to retreat slightly to allow the Kazakh team to advance forward far enough to steal the sporting headlines.
The men’s épée team is lunging ahead so significantly in fencing at the moment that it has become the top-ranked team in the world, after a comprehensive victory in the most recent World Cup event in Morocco.
The four swashbuckling heroes, namely Kirill Prokhodov, Vadim Sharlaimov, Alexander Fedotov, and Kirill Pavlov, progressed with relative ease to the final in Casablanca, where they beat the Russian team 45-40 to sit atop the FIE rankings for the first time ever.
Their route to the final also included a victory over a French team which was representing perhaps the most successful country in fencing history, at least alongside Italy, but as Kazakhstan Today reports, they weren’t even fielding their strongest team. Two of Kazakhstan’s reigning four world champions were absent from the event, making their exploits all the more impressive.
Kazakhstan Fencing Federation President, Mirbulat Abuov, was understandably on the front foot about the news, and said:
“With this line-up, we beat France, the 23-time world champions in men’s team épée. That is an absolute record in the discipline.”
This latest victory is not just a feint, but an extension to the success that the new greats of world fencing have had in recent months. The Islamic Solidarity Games in November 2025, Asian championship in June 2026, World Championship gold in July, and the Asian Games in September complete the list of glory for the increasingly invincible duellers, who had gone into the Morocco tournament ranked 3rd.
The National Fencing Federation of Kazakhstan was established in 2004 and oversees the development of the sport in this country. It is also closely involved in preparing the national team for the 2028 Olympic Games, in which the fencers are expected to compete in a total of six categories.
