China confirm position as fencing champions

France lose men's team foil final at the ExCeL Arena. 08 Sep 2012
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Wheelchair fencing

Wheelchair fencing at London 2012.

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Ye Ru Yi saw them over the line to clinch their tenth fencing medal and sixth gold, a remarkable achievement.

The Chinese solidified their position as the greatest fencing nation with a comfortable win over France in the men’s team foil final.

World champions China swiftly took a 10-1 lead after two bouts. After that France were never far behind, and steadily came back into it.

Category A fencer Ludovic Lemoine took 14 points out of the Chinese lead to create a fantastic turnaround for the French, who are ranked fifth in the world, and leave his teammates a nice platform to try to take the lead.

However, Damien Tokatlian couldn’t profit from his hard work, losing the next two bouts 5-0 and 5-3 respectively. Tokatlian suffered another heavy defeat and left Lemoine needing to produce fencing’s greatest comeback of 18 points for France to win gold.

But China were never going to lose from their position and Ye Ru Yi saw them over the line to clinch their tenth fencing medal and sixth gold, a remarkable achievement.

Hong Kong secured the bronze medal after seeing off a passionate and committed Italian team.

The Italians came out flying, making their early dominance count.

But gradually Hong Kong came back into it, taking the lead in the fourth bout. Italy stayed strong throughout, not allowing the Asian team to run away with it.

Hong Kong, who entered the match as favourites, only lead the Italians by one point going into the final bout, 40-39.

But after a controversial match where video referrals were being employed constantly, Hong Kong eventually came away with a 45-42 win.

The Azzuri will feel aggrieved that their efforts weren’t rewarded, but can be proud of their performances.

Earlier, Hungary beat Great Britain to claim seventh, just behind Ukraine in sixth and Russia in fifth.