Kazakhstan Edges China to Take Men's Epee Team Gold

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, October 03, 2002

Kazakhstan Edges China to Take Men's Epee Team Gold

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One subtle thrust from Shabalin Sergei of Kazakhstan against China's Zhao Gang in one minute decided everything: Kazakhstan defeated China 31-30 to win the men's epee team event at the Busan Asian Games Wednesday evening.

This was the first gold medal for the fencing team of the Central Asian country in Busan and the second gold for the Kazakhstan Asiad delegation. "The first one was a cycling title," Mikhhil Michshuk, the Kazakh fencing team official said.

Before the epee final, the Chinese fencing team had claimed the titles of men's individual foil and men's individual epee on Sunday, women's individual foil on Monday and men's team foil on Wednesday.

During the men's epee team final, the fencers from both sides paid much attention to their defense rather than attacking so that the scores from both sides were quite low without gap. It often needed one minute to get a point.

But the Chinese fencers continued their lead until the sixth set when the Kazakhs made an overturn to 19-18. Then Kazakhstan kept their lead until the last 10 seconds to go when Chinese fencer Zhao Gang, who took the individual gold three days ago, tied the score 30-30. And both fencers gave up fighting until the end of the regular time.

In the one-minute one-point tiebreaker, Zhao made a darting thrust but missed the target and the scoring light for Sergei, the key member of the team which finished the second at the Bangkok Asiad, was on.

Chinese fencing team manager Cai Jiadong told Xinhua after the match that men's epee is not a strong event for China. "But in Busan, the men's epee fencers collected one gold and two silvers, which will no doubt encourage our athletes to go further ahead in the future." he added.

Michshuk said, "We are very proud of taking this gold as our opponents from both China and South Korea are very tough. It is very difficult to beat them."

During the semifinal in the afternoon, Kazakhstan ousted hosts South Korea, the bronze medalists of both Sydney Olympic Games and the Lisbon World Fencing Championships, in a similar intense fight and the final score was 44-43.

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China, Kazakhstan Meet in Men's Epee Team Final at Busan Asiad

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