The Russian made the comments at the annual FIE Congress which took place in Paris today.

This year's World Championships in Chinese city Wuxi saw fencers battle on a huge LED-screen stage, which displayed the athletes' names as well as the score.

Animated videos were also displayed on the stage during pauses in action.

It was the first time the technology had been used and allowed fans to better engage with the action, the FIE claim.

"In my opinion, this is a real technological breakthrough that provides a completely different perception of fencing both by the spectators in the stands and by the viewers," Usmanov, who was first elected as President in 2008, said to TASS.

"Our goal is to prove in Tokyo that fencing is one of the most modern, innovative and popular sports. 

"We have a good basis to show the world new fencing in all its splendor at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

"We must do everything so that people understand and appreciate our sport more and more."

A total of 135 countries were present for the Congress in the French capital, which took place at the Pavillon d'Armenonville in the 2024 Olympic host city.

It was held under the strapline "Fencing is our Future".

Usmanov, who was elected for a fresh four-year term in Moscow in 2016, again praised the decision of the International Olympic Committee to add two extra team events to the Tokyo 2020 programme.

It means that men's and women's team competitions will be held in the Japanese capital using all three fencing swords - épée, foil and sabre.

Under the previous rules fencing was only allocated ten medal events so two team tournaments were missed off the Games programme on a rotational basis.

At Rio 2016 there was no men's team sabre or women's team foil.

"I consider it to be one of the most important points in the history of fencing," Usmanov added. 

"The organisation of our major tournaments has significantly improved. 

"We are in constant search of new ways of promoting our sport and have made great progress in this respect: testing and introducing state-of-the-art technology, improving the quality and increasing the number of television broadcasts of our competitions, and millions of people all over the world can now watch fencing."

The Congress awarded two major events with Egyptian capital Cairo granted the 2021 Junior and Cadet World Championships.

In the same year, American city Fort Lauderdale will stage the Veteran World Championships.

American Samoa were added as a new member nation, taking the total number to 153.

The world ranking leaders were honoured while fair play awards were presented to Christian Bauer of France, Marco Fichera of Italy and Katharine Holmes of the United States.

The FIE is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.