Mara Navarria of Italy wins the gold medal in the women’s individual epee event of the 2018 World Fencing Championships in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, July 22. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

Italy's Mara Navarria, the world's top-ranked women epeeist, claimed her first World Fencing Championships title on the fourth day of the 2018 edition in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, on Sunday. South Korean fencer Kim Jung-hwan won gold in the men's sabre event.

Navarria, 33, defeated Romania's Ana Maria Popescu, 34, 13-9 in the finals of the women's individual epee event. Popescu had had a narrow win over the United States' Courtney Hurley, winning by 14 points to 13 in the semi-finals, while Navarria had faced Swiss fencer Laura Staehli, winning with a score of 15-8 to advance to the final.

The veteran Italian fencer, three-time World Cup and two-time Grand Prix gold medal winner, called the championships title a dream of hers. "I am very happy, now I have realized my dream. I worked a lot and I’m not young," said Navarria, adding that she has fulfilled her promise to her coach that she would win.