Japan’s Kazuyasu Minobe, second from left, won the individual gold medal at the International Fencing Federation Men’s Épée World Cup in Berne ©FIE

Japan’s Kazuyasu Minobe won the individual gold medal at the International Fencing Federation (FIE) Men’s Épée World Cup in Berne after beating The Netherlands’ Bas Verwijlen in the final round.

Minobe triumphed by virtue of priority following a 9-9 draw at the Swiss city’s Sporthalle Wankdorf.

Victory secures him his third FIE Men’s Épée World Cup gold medal.

His second came earlier this year in Heidenheim in Germany.

In the semi-finals, Verwijlen defeated Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Alexanin 15-10, while Minobe overcame Italy’s Federico Vismara 15-11.

Alexanin and Vismara were the bronze medallists.

Russia took the gold medal in the team event ©FIE
Russia took the gold medal in the team event ©FIE

Notably, Verwijlen beat Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Park Sang-young of South Korea by a scoreline of 15-9 in the round of 16.

In the team event, Russia took the gold medal in the final with a 31-27 win over Italy.

The semi-finals saw Italy defeat South Korea 45-31 and Russia overcome Hungary 45-29.

South Korea beat Hungary 36-28 in the bronze medal match.

The event attracted nearly 300 fencers.

It was spread across three days.