Vivian Kong Man Wai of Hong Kong, China, and South Korea's Oh Sang-uk each took a historic gold on day one of the fencing competition at the Paris Olympics.
PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Fencing competitions never lack surprises. The title defenses for Sun Yiwen of China and Hungary's Aron Szilagyi were both cut short early on at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Saturday, while Vivian Kong Man Wai of Hong Kong, China and South Korea's Oh Sang-uk both took historic golds.
World No. 1 Kong eased into the women's epee individual final, taking on home fencer Auriane Mallo-Breton, who defeated Eszter Muhari of Hungary. Kong overcame a slow 5-0 start in front of a packed home crowd at the Grand Palais to tie at 12-12 after competition time ran out.
The 30-year-old then won with the final strike to take a 13-12 victory and claim Hong Kong's second Olympic fencing gold, following Cheung Ka Long's men's foil individual gold in Tokyo.
"Being able to fence in this palace has always been one of my dreams. I think it's so beautiful. It's where fencing should be," said Kong. "[Mallo-Breton] is an amazing fencer. She's a really tough opponent. I'm going to eat and sleep and then hopefully when I wake up it's still true."
Muhari took home the bronze medal.
Tokyo gold medalist Sun, who also has a team silver and an individual bronze from Rio 2016, faced off against Miho Yoshimura of Japan in the round of 32. The two tied at 13-13 as time ran out, before Yoshimura scored the final strike with 48 seconds left to win 14-13, which Sun claimed was a hit on Yoshimura herself.
According to the technical rules, no appeal can be made against the decision of the referee regarding a point of fact, or the fencer will be penalized for casting doubt on the decision of the referee, which ended up dashing Sun's dream of a historic third consecutive podium finish in the individual event.
In the men's sabre individual, star fencer Szilagyi's quest for a fourth consecutive gold in the discipline was shattered early in the round of 32 as he lost to Fares Arfa of Canada 15-8.
"I'm in a bit of shock right now, so I'm not even disappointed or angry at myself yet. It happened so fast, and I've never thought that my individual competition here in Paris would be so short," Szilagyi said.
"Of course, we will watch my match again to understand what really happened, but after some time. Then I'll think of the team event," added the 34-year-old, who will be vying for a second team medal on July 31, following a bronze in Tokyo.
Five-time world champion Oh beat Tunisia's Fares Ferjani 15-11 in the final, claiming South Korea's first-ever men's sabre individual gold, following Kim Jung-hwan's two bronzes in the discipline. The 27-year-old will be looking to defend the team gold in three days.
Italy's Luigi Samele took the bronze.
China's Shen Chenpeng stunned Michele Gallo of Italy 15-6 and beat Park Sang-won of South Korea 15-11 to cruise into the quarterfinals, the first time a Chinese male sabre fencer has reached such a stage since gold medalist Zhong Man in 2008. The 22-year-old then wasted a 14-11 lead, losing to Ferjani 15-14.
The women's foil and men's epee individual events will take place on Sunday. ■
