
Taniksha Khatri, 22, won the gold medal in the Senior Women’s Épée event at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships 2026 in Lagos, Nigeria, becoming the first Indian to achieve this feat. She defeated…
Taniksha Khatri, 22, won the gold medal in the Senior Women’s Épée event at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships 2026 in Lagos, Nigeria, becoming the first Indian to achieve this feat. She defeated fellow Indian fencer Khushi Dabhade 15-7 in the final. India dominated the podium, with Prachi Lohan sharing bronze with Australia’s Ashley Harrison.

Khatri, from Karnal, Haryana, started fencing in 2015 at a school summer camp. She switched from foil to épée on her coach’s advice and trained in France under former world champion Nathalie Moellhausen. The Free Press Journal reports that Dabhade, from a slum in Bhopal, also won team gold and individual silver at the same championships.
Two Indian women met in a Commonwealth final, yet much of the coverage is rags-to-riches melodrama. Yes, one fencer’s father is an OT attendant. But three Indians medalled, and the team won gold, that is the story. The real test is whether the fencing federation and the Navy back these athletes all the way to Los Angeles 2028, not just for one headline.
Sources (2): timesnownews.com, freepressjournal.in
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.