Bulgarian Yoana Ilieva won a bronze medal at the saber competition during the Fencing World Championships in Milan. She has become the first Bulgarian fencer among the women with a medal from the prestigious championships.

The twenty-two-year-old Bulgarian lost 8:15 in the semi-finals against Greek Despina Georgiadou - fourth in the world ranking and bronze medalist from last year's world championships in Cairo. Before this duel, Ilieva had four victories in the phase of direct eliminations.

Ioana Ilieva achieved her greatest success at the U23 European Saber Championships for women in May in Budapest. She has been fencing since the age of twelve and dreams of an Olympic medal from Paris next year.