🌍 NEUTRAL ATHLETES STUN BRACKET TO CLAIM TASHKENT TEAM SABRE GOLD
Updated: Aug 5
TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN — 29 MARCH 2026
The third Women’s Sabre Team World Cup of the season concluded with a thrilling set of bracket upsets in Tashkent. Sweeping through the field from the 16th seed, the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) squad captured the gold medal. The quartet of Yana Egorian, Alina Mikhailova, Milena Sergeeva and Anastasiya Shorokhova delivered an elite tactical display to comfortably defeat the United States 45–32 in the final.
The gold marks a massive breakthrough and the first team podium of the campaign for the AIN squad. It also capped off a flawless individual and team golden double for Alina Mikhailova over the weekend.
The USA took home the silver, securing their own first team medal of the season, while Japan edged out a thrilling finish for bronze. Poland put together a highly impressive run to take fourth place.
Path to the Podium
AIN (World number 16) shredded the form book from their opening match, obliterating Venezuela 45–17. They carried that red-hot form into the round of 16, where they stunned world number 3 and Algiers silver medallists Hungary 45–32. After navigating a tight 45–40 quarter-final against Italy, they survived a furious 45–41 semi-final clash against Japan. In the final, they dominated the middle legs against the Americans, cruising to a comfortable 13-touch victory.
The USA (World number 6) put together a brilliant silver-medal run using sharp offensive pressure. The lineup of Maia Chamberlain, Lola Possick, Aleksandra Strzalkowski and Siobhan Sullivan looked ruthless in the quarter-finals, completely shutting down a strong world number 5 Chinese team 45–25. They maintained their momentum with a clinical 45–28 dismantling of Poland in the semi-finals before being halted by the inspired AIN squad.
Japan (World number 4) bounced back from their narrow semi-final loss to capture the bronze medal in the most dramatic match of the day. The quartet of Misaki Emura, Yuina Kaneko, Yui Sano and Chirika Takahashi went toe-to-toe with Poland in a classic bronze-medal play-off, sealing a thrilling 45–44 "sudden death" victory to secure their first team podium of the season.
Poland (World number 11) caused the biggest shakeup of the early rounds. The squad—featuring Julia Cieslar, Zuzanna Cieslar, Angelika Wator and Maria Wieckiewicz—engineered a massive quarter-final upset by taking down world number 2 South Korea 45–41. Though they ultimately fell just one touch short of the podium against Japan, the fourth-place finish marks their first team top-4 performance of the season.
