Korea takes bronze in men's team epee fencing

JAKARTA -- South Korea took the bronze medal in men's team epee fencing at the 18th Asian Games on Wednesday, after losing to China in the semifinals.

South Korea fell to China 45-41 at Jakarta Convention Center Cendrawasih Hall in Jakarta, unable to capture the country's fourth consecutive Asiad title.

In team fencing, each match consists of nine individual bouts, and each member of a team faces each member of the opposing team once. A head-to-head bout is three minutes long, but it ends when one team's score reaches a multiple of five. The objective is to get to 45 points first by the end of the ninth bout. But if neither side has 45 points at the end, the team with more points is declared the winner.

(Yonhap)

South Korea and China were tied at 32-32 heading into the ninth bout, with Jung Jin-sun for South Korea going up against Dong Chao of China.

Dong won the first three points to set the tone. But Jung clawed back to pull to a 40-40 tie with 1:03 remaining.

Dong responded with three consecutive points. Then, with China up 43-41, Dong got the last two points for the victory.

There are no third-place matches, and the two losers in the semifinals -- Kazakhstan being the other -- each got a bronze.

This is the first day of fencing's team events. South Korea came to Jakarta with the objective of winning eight gold medals in fencing. It collected three gold, two silver and four bronze medals in three days of individual events that ended Tuesday.

Earlier Wednesday, the South Korean women's sabre team advanced to the final with a victory over Japan. (Yonhap)