Chinese Epee Fencers' One-two Finish Makes History

Home>>Sports

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 30, 2002

Chinese Epee Fencers' One-two Finish Makes History

Chinese Zhao Gang beat teammate Wang Lei 14-12 to win the men's individual epee title at the Asian Games Sunday in Busan.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The Chinese men's epee fencers made their first ever one-two finish in the individual competition at the Asian Games by beating invincible opponents Sunday.

Zhao Gang and Wang Lei eliminated their rivals from Kazakhstan and South Korea in the semifinals respectively and Zhao won the title over Wang 14-12 after the nine-minute competition time in anall-Chinese final.

Zhao, third-time Asian Games participant, said: "After so many years of being dominated by the South Koreans, I am very excited to take the gold medal."

The 30-year-old Zhao, who finished third in Bangkok Asian Games, returned to the national team only four months before the Busan competition.

"I retired last year and became a coach in Liaoning provincial team. This golden finish in my career is what I have dreamed all the time," Zhao said.

Wang was satisfied with his silver medal in his first Asian Games trip and admitted that Zhao is a better fencer than him.

"Zhao is an experienced veteran who beat me more often in the training. I was relaxed in the final because the champion is set to be a Chinese," said the 22-year-old.

"The more meaningful thing is that the epee event has always been the trump card for the South Koreans, but this time, it becomes ours," he said.

The best results that Chinese epee fencers achieved in the Asian Games was a gold medal in 1994 and last medal they won was in Bangkok four years ago while the South Koreans swept team gold and individual top two spots.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Wang Haibin of China Wins First Gold of Busan Asiad

>> Full Coverage

Jiang Urges Army to Prepare for Military, Anti-Terror Struggles ( 34 Messages)

'Taiwan Independence': Greatest Threat to Taiwan Straits Peace ( 41 Messages)

China Continues to Absorb Foreign Investment ( 2 Messages)

China Becomes Biggest Market for English Learning ( 2 Messages)

US Urged to Stop Activities in Chinese EEZ ( 7 Messages)

Two Chinese Students Shot Dead When Robbing a Malaysian Bank ( 5 Messages)