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With strong individual fencers including Sun Yiwen, who won gold
for the individual epee event
https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/
sports/olympics-fencing-chinas-sun-wins-womens-epee-individual-gold-2021-07-24
just three days ago, the Chinese team, which had taken gold in
the 2012 London Olympics and silver in the 2016 Rio Games, was a
strong medal contender.
Early in her match, Sun sought medical help for her upper left
thigh. She returned, walking slowly back into position to finish
her bout with South Korean Choi Injeong, ranked second in the
world, but complained of injury again in her next turn and
limped out of the venue, supported by her coach as alternate Xu
Anqi replaced her.
For the last bout, Choi took calculated jabs at her opponent Zhu
Mingye, even as Zhu edged forward to put pressure on Choi. Choi
finished the match with a 38-29 win.
Even before the bout was over, Choi's team mates jumped and
screamed for joy on the sidelines, running out at the end to
embrace her.
"We had quite a lot of matches against China before and we lost
most of the games. We really concentrated on training against
China and also the teamwork," South Korean fencer Kang Young Mi
said after the match.
"That's how we got to win," she added.
South Korea will be up against Estonia in the finals.
Although ranked seventh in the world, Estonia has a strong
selection of fencers including Katrina Lehis, who already has a
bronze medal under her belt at the Games.
They have beaten Poland, ranked second in team rankings, and
Italy, ranked sixth, to advance to the gold medal bout.
Whichever medal they win, Estonia will be happy, as it will be
their second in the country's history of fencing, after Lehis's
bronze on Saturday.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by Karishma Singh)
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