Asia's fencing powers China and SouthKorea continued their gold haul
yesterday with their top fencers sharing the golds and silvers in individual
epee and foil events at the 15th Asian Games.
The Epee gold went to world champion Wang Lei of China, who outclassed number
ten seed compatriot Xie Yongjun with lightning-fast attacks for a decisive 15-8
victory in the final.
Wang, silver medalist at the 2002 Athens Olympics and gold winner in the 2006
World Championships, eased to a 8-4 lead by thefirst break. Though Xie tried to
come back in the second session, Wang held his form to seal the bout 15-8.
Wang reached the final effortlessly after beating Ali Yaghoubian of Iran 15-5
by keeping the Iranian off guard for most of the time by varying his stance and
position on the piste.
Xie advanced into the final from one of the most defensive matches of the day
against South Korean epeeist Kim Seung Gu. The referee had to impose yellow
cards on both fencers for passivity when the score stagnated at 2-2.
When the score stood still at 2-2 in the second session, the referee injected
another passivity warning, taking the score to 3-3 into the last three minutes.
At 6-6 the nine minutes were over and the match entered the sudden death, but
only for a second before Xie struck the winning hit.
"I am happy to get the gold. In fact, I was more relaxed when fencing against
my teammate in the final," said Wang Lei. "I thinkthat the bouts before the
semifinal were much harder."
"My opponent in the semifinal was not so tough, and my teammateXie Yongjun
eliminated a strong South Korean opponent in his semifinal bout," he said.
Xie said that Wang and he are both rapid attackers. "So it simply comes down
to who can score a touch first. I did not seize those key touches," he said.
In women's individual foil, South Korea's Nam Hyun Hee defeatedher teammate
Seo Mi Jun 15-10 to claim her second Asian Games goldafter Busan in 2002.
Earlier, the lightning fast footwork and ripostes of World No. 2 Nam allowed
her to defeat Yoko Makishit of Japan in the semifinal.
Seo eliminated her 18-year old Chinese opponent Chen Jinyan in semifinals.
There are a total of 12 golds up for grab at the Doha Asian Games. So far,
China had three golds and South Korea two, with another gold taken by Japan.
