DOHA, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Asia's fencing powers China
and SouthKorea continued their gold haul on Monday with their top fencers
sharing the golds and silvers in individual epee and foil events at the 15th
Asian Games.
The Epee gold went to world champion Wang Lei of
China, who outclassed number ten seed compatriot Xie Yongjun with lightning-fast
attacks for a decisive 15-8 victory in the final.
Wang, silver medalist at the 2002 Athens Olympics and
gold winner in the 2006 World Championships, eased to a 8-4 lead by thefirst
break. Though Xie tried to come back in the second session, Wang held his form
to seal the bout 15-8.
Wang reached the final effortlessly after beating Ali
Yaghoubian of Iran 15-5 by keeping the Iranian off guard for most of the time by
varying his stance and position on the piste.
Xie advanced into the final from one of the most
defensive matches of the day against South Korean epeeist Kim Seung Gu. The
referee had to impose yellow cards on both fencers for passivity when the score
stagnated at 2-2.
When the score stood still at 2-2 in the second
session, the referee injected another passivity warning, taking the score to 3-3
into the last three minutes. At 6-6 the nine minutes were over and the match
entered the sudden death, but only for a second before Xie struck the winning
hit.
"I am happy to get the gold. In fact, I was more
relaxed when fencing against my teammate in the final," said Wang Lei. "I
thinkthat the bouts before the semifinal were much harder."
"My opponent in the semifinal was not so tough, and
my teammateXie Yongjun eliminated a strong South Korean opponent in his
semifinal bout," he said.
Xie said that Wang and he are both rapid attackers.
"So it simply comes down to who can score a touch first. I did not seize those
key touches," he said.
In women's individual foil, South Korea's Nam Hyun
Hee defeatedher teammate Seo Mi Jun 15-10 to claim her second Asian Games
goldafter Busan in 2002.
Earlier, the lightning fast footwork and ripostes of
World No. 2 Nam allowed her to defeat Yoko Makishit of Japan in the semifinal.
Seo eliminated her 18-year old Chinese opponent Chen
Jinyan in semifinals.
There are a total of 12 golds up for grab at the Doha
Asian Games. So far, China had three golds and South Korea two, with another
gold taken by Japan.