Fencing: Hero Jung wins team epee

Korea enjoyed a golden evening of fencing at the Al-Arabi Indoor Hall after their men's team emulated the women's title winning performance in the team foil competition earlier in the evening, to win 35-33 against China in an emotionally charged final of the men's team epee event.

After eight intense bouts, the final contest between Jung Jin Sun of Korea and China's Xie Yongjun began with Korea leading by only one point, 29-28. For the first two minutes the bout looked passive, but both sides went on the attack in the final minute in a bid to gain the upper hand.

It was Jung who was able to press home the advantage to win 35-33 as time ran out. On winning, he threw his mask to the floor and raised his hands high, in an emotional moment for the second seeded team.

This was a strong performance for Jung, who started each of his bouts with Korea being behind in the match but finishing in the lead. For the whole match there was never more than three points separating the teams as the lead constantly changed hands.

After a tight start, China's strongest epeeist, world champion Wang Lei, took the lead for China when he fenced Kim Won Jin in the third bout.

China continued to lead after the fourth and fifth bouts, but it was Jung who once again stole the lead back for Korea, despite hopping off the stage at one point, in obvious pain after the blade struck his shin.

In the seventh bout, with Park Sang Sun of Korea substituting Kim, China's Dong Guotao quickly equalised, only for both sides to fall into stalemate at 27-27. This ended the bout, allowing Wang to take to the piste.

In the eighth bout, however, with the score 28- 27 in Korea's favour, the referee awarded another warning for passivity and Wang lost his chance to once again take back the lead for China.

"I cannot explain this feeling. It is impossible to explain," said Korea's Kim Seong Gu after winning the contest. "Before we started the match we talked to each other, telling each other we have nothing to lose, so just doing our best was the only way. China are a strong team and we wanted gold, but we didn't expect gold.

"We had nothing to lose, so we trusted each other. Even when one of us dropped a bout we were confident the next fencer could catch up. We tried to keep the score close and we won. It was a very tough match, but we had faith that we always have back-up."

Menawhile, Jung referred to his crucial final bout and said, "I fenced in the ninth bout so I was nervous. But my team mates were supporting me and trusted me. Kim Seung Gu gave us a one point lead so I was able to fence comfortably. I didn't expect this result until the moment I was on the piste. I just trusted that we could make it."

China coach Xiao Jian was philosophical after the defeat but felt the referee was too harsh on his fencer during the closing stages. He said, "We expected a situation like the final moments of the match. Our opponents played a defensive game that left us little time at the end. Wang wanted to attack, but the referee was too strict today and ruled him passive just before he started to attack. Strictness of the referee disturbed our strategy today."

15th Asian Games, Doha 2006