Bebe Vio makes history with second Paralympic gold medal in wheelchair fencing

Five years after the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games gold medal bout of the women's foil individual category B, it was time for the Makuhari Messe Hall to see the same outcome this Saturday, with Italy's Beatrice Maria Vio retaining her title against Chinese Zhou Jingjing, a three-time Paralympic champion. The 24-year-old Italian defeated her opponent 15-9 in the final.

Besides the two gold medals, she won three consecutive world championships titles in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

"It was so hard because the measure was different between the other matches we did together before. It was the same final as in Rio (2016 Paralympic Games), but today was a completely different kind of match, with different techniques," said Bebe Vio to the Olympic Information Services (OIS).

"We've fenced each other quite a lot, but today was so hard, surely the hardest match that I've ever had with her," she added.

The bronze medal match ended with the victory of Ludmila Vasileva, from the Russian Paralympic Committee, over China's Xiao Rong, 15-12.

The final of the men's category B featured the two most dominant foilists at the past three Paralympic Games. In an all-Chinese battle, Feng Yanke retained his 2016 title after defeating 2008 and 2012 Paralympic champion Hu Daoliang in a tight 15-14. British Dimitri Coutya cruised past Albert Kamalov, from the Russian Paralympic Committee, 15-2, and ended with the bronze. 

China collected two other gold medals on the day, thanks to Games debutant Gu Haiyan in the women's category A, against Ukraine's Nataliia Morkvych, and Sun Gang in the men's category A, beating Hungary's Richard Osvath 15-7. 

Rong Jing won bronze in the women's category A, while Nikita Nagaev, from the Russian Paralympic Committee, was the bronze medallist in the men's category A event.

The Tokyo 2020 wheelchair fencing competition ends tomorrow, with the women's and men's team foil competitions.