TERNI, Italy — Friday was a day for team events at the World Wheelchair Fencing Championships and it was China who claimed success winning both events.
The home fans were especially disappointed by the men’s sabre loss which saw Italy defeated by China. It looked like it was going to be a dominant win for the Chinese fencers when Edoardo Giordan coming in to face Yanke Feng 20-2 down. Giordan claimed 21 points to pull Italy back into the contest.
But that was as good as it would get as Chinese fencers Yeng Cheng, Li Hao and Feng pulled away to claim the world title.
The bronze medal match was also a European v Asian battle. This time it was the Europeans that came out as victors. The French team of Ludovic Lemoine, Maxime Valet and Serge Robin claimed victory over India.
China claimed the other team gold of the day with a tighter win in the women’s team epee. Thailand fought hard but fell to a 45-43 scoreline to the defending Paralympic champions.
Xufeng Zou led the team, fresh from claiming the individual world title in the A category, winning all of her bouts. The B category winner, Saysunee Jana, pulled Thailand back into the bout to make it a close finish but couldn’t do enough to overcome the deficit.
France couldn’t get a double bronze as they fell to Hungary in the bronze medal bout, allowing the Hungarians to finish in the same position as four years ago. There were seven lead changes before Hungary finally pulled away through Amarilla Veres to claim a 45-37 win.
Saturday will see competition continue with the women’s foil and men’s epee individual events.
Para Sports 