Riding high after expelling Paralympic champions China in the semi-final, forcing them away from the fight for gold and into the battle for bronze, Artem Manko, Oleg Naumenko and Oleksii Zakusylov went toe-toe with Iraq.

The match was an absolute classic back-and-forth. As soon as Ukraine carved themselves out any kind of lead, Iraq clawed themselves back level. Hayder Al-Ogaili, Zainulabdeen Al-Madhkhoori and Abdulrahman Alnezri put up a strong fight in the absence of their talisman, Ammar Ali, working hard on the piste.

It was not until the penultimate round that Ukraine managed to pull away, and stay there. Manko beat Al-Madhkhoori 5-3 to bring the score to 40-35 before handing over the baton to Zakusylov who finished the job against Al-Ogaili.

“We are excited. That’s the first medal for our team in the men’s epee and it’s history,” Manko said.

“We are just shocked. We try to do our best and we did our best and now we are here. We always have some strategy, we try to see who can do what so for us it was not the best day yesterday [in the individual] so we made our lessons, We slept with that and we made the best of it.”

Meanwhile China’s Liqiang Chen, Benjun Qin and Saichon Zhong claimed the bronze in their last match of the day against Great Britain.

China’s Haiyan Gu, Yuandong Chen and Xiao Rong dominated Italy in their gold medal match against Italy.

The reigning Paralympic champions won seven out of the nine matches in a strong display that left Italy wondering what they could possibly do better. But with three new World Championships medallists, including one world champion in Haiyan Gu, it was no surprise the Chinese women were able to put on a show.

There is plenty for Italy to be optimistic about however, including a promising performance from 19-year-old debutant Sofia Garnero. Sitting alongside women’s category B world champion Ionela Andrea Mogos and Loredana Trigilia, Garnero can be pleased to have taken silver at her first World Championships amongst such good company.

South Korea won their third medal of their home World Championships, taking the bronze that was on offer against Ukraine.

Hyo Kyeong Kwon bought them home in a match which the hosts controlled from early on. Eun Hyo Cho and Sunmi Kim also put in dominant legs to build towards victory.

The 2025 Para Fencing World Championships continue on Saturday (6 September) with the women’s sabre category A and B and men’s foil category A, B and C.

More than 240 fencers from 30 countries are in Iksan for the competition, competing for medals in individual and team events