Bida, Popescu claim gold as FIE Doha Grand Prix 2020 comes to a close

Sergey Bida of Russia and Romania’s Anna Maria Popescu confirmed their ratings as the world’s top-ranked fencers after they respectively won the men's and women's events of the International Fencing Federation (FIE) Épée Grand Prix Doha 2020 which concluded at the Aspire Dome in Doha yesterday.

While Bida defeated France's Alexandre Bardenet 15-6 in the final, Popescu, on the other hand, got the better of Italy’s Mara Navarria 15-9 to emerge champions of the competition which was one of the qualifying events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Italy’s Andrea Santarelli and Japan’s Masaru Yamada claimed the bronze medals in the men’s while Tatyana Andryushina of Russia and Estonia’s Erika Kirpu secured the third places in the women’s.

The event, held from January 24 to 26, was the first leg of the three Grand Prix series - before Budapest (Hungary) and Cali (Colombia) – and it featured over 494 male and female fencers from 45.

The final day of the tournament was attended by the QOC Secretary-General HE Jassim bin Rashed Al Buenain, Director of the QOC Sport Affairs Department Khaleel Al Jabir and President of the Qatar Weightlifting and Fencing Federation Mohammad Yousef Al Mana, and other top officials.

En route, the final, Bida edged Vitalii Medvediev of Ukraine in a closely fought round of 16 clashes before defeating Daniel Jerent of France 15-11 in the quarter-finals. He subsequently eased past Masaru Yamada of Japan 15-10 to reach the gold medal match.

I’m happy with my performance today and it is good to start the season on a winning note. I’ve fought against tough opponents and to end the competition as the winner gives me exciting feelings. I intend to continue in this form and hopefully secure gold at the Olympics in Tokyo,” said the 26-year-old Bida, who won silver at the World Championship in Budapest last year.

Meanwhile, veteran fencer Popescu, who won her won her tenth World Cup gold at the 50th edition of the Glaive De Tallin in the Estonian capital last November, proved that experience does matter as she displayed commendable poise and calm in her defeat of Navarria, a gold medalist at the 2018 World Championship in Wuxi, China, in the highly exciting encounter.

The 35-year-old, who took up the sport in 1996 in Bucharest, first defeated Jung Hyo-jung of South Korea 15-6 in the round of 16 before going on to narrowly edge Katharine Holmes of the United States 10-9 in the quarters.

In the semi-final, the Beijing 2008 Olympic silver medalist came up against Tatyana Andryushina of Russia, overwhelming her 15-5 before setting up the clash with the Italian who remained inconsolable throughout the medal award ceremony.

One of the major highlights of the women's event was the 15-11 shocking defeat of top seed Lin Sheng of China by Erika Kirpu of Estonia in the last 64.

With the Doha event out of the way, the next stop is Budapest and the competition is scheduled to hold from March 6 to 8 at the Hungarian capital.

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