Men's sabre: China wins with final thrust

China held on for the gold medal by the slenderest of margins in an intense final of the men's team sabre competition after coming from behind late on to beat Korea 45-44 at the Al-Arabi Indoor Hall.

After winning a team sabre silver medal at Busan 2002, China went one better this time around with a stirring display from their trio of fencers, Wang Jingzhi, Huang Yaojiang and Zhou Hanming.

It was Korea who got off to the better start, however, and they led 10-8 after two bouts thanks largely to Oh Eun Seok's 6-3 victory over Huang. The lead then changed hands over the next four bouts as there was little to choose between the two sides.

Oh once again defeated Huang in bout eight to give Korea a small lead 35-33 over their opponents, but a stirring 7-3 win by China's Zhou over Won Woo Young in the penultimate bout handed the Chinese a two point lead (40-38) with one bout remaining.

Wang stepped up in the final bout against Oh, looking to consolidate China's lead, but the Korean fought hard to make up the points and levelled the match at 44-44 before Wang struck with a final golden blow to win an amazing contest.

"We fenced well overall and we had good technique tonight," said Zhou after the match. "We followed through with our coach's [Christian Bauer's] four instructions. One, retreat and defend; two, advance; three, attack; four, trick the opponent into attacking.

"We have finally avenged the defeat from four years ago in Busan. We have been waiting for this moment for four years," he added.

Wang delivered the deciding touch that won the match and said, "I love it! I have experienced a moment like that in the individual competition. Now it comes again and I think I have been more confident than last time. I was very determined to attack and fortunately there was a good chance for me to attack.

"I think that compared to the last Games I am more mature now both in skills and mentality. And winning two gold medals here also makes me more confident for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008."

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006