Rio de Janeiro, Aug 14 (IANS) Russia defeated Ukraine in the women’s sabre team final 45-30, claiming its fourth fencing gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games here.
Advertisement
A team consisting of individual gold and silver medallists Yana Egorian and Sofya Velikaya were always going to prove hard to beat.
This is Russia’s first medal in the event which was introduced to the Olympics in 2008. The victory also brought a double gold to Russia’s Yana Egorian, who won the individual title earlier, reports Xinhua.
It was the latest example of what some Russians have complained is an “anti-Russian atmosphere” in Rio following revelations of state-sponsored doping that dominated media coverage in the run-up to the Games and led to doping bans on dozens of Russian athletes.
“We won’t be broken or provoked”, Patskevich said.
The British team, featuring two of the top six foil fencers coming into the Games, lost a tough opening match to Russian Federation 43-45 before beating Egypt and falling short against China to take sixth place.
Advertisement
The US team included Muslim-American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first US Olympian to wear a hijab during competition. “This is bigger than us”.
