USA’s women’s epee team produced a historic performance on day seven of the 2018 Fencing World

The Americans beat Korea in the Final and in doing so won a senior world championship in women’s team epee for the first time.

There was better news for Korea’s men’s team as they successfully defended their title by winning gold in the men’s team sabre event.

In what is the first time a full fencing world championship has been hosted in China, both women’s epee and men’s sabre competitions had 26 teams competing from around the world.

But the night belonged to USA’s women at Wuxi Sports Center Gym for their history-making gold medal winning performance, although they had to do it the hard way. Having progressed past the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 32 with their opponents conceding, the Americans swept past Hong Kong 45-30 in the last 16, before encountering two nail-biting finishes to make the Final. They edged past Estonia 24-23 in the quarter-finals before beating Russia, a four-time team world champion, 27-25 in the semi-finals.

And the drama was not finished there with another close encounter in the Final as the USA defeated Korea, again winning with a one-touch verdict of 18-17.

Korea’s path to the Final saw them beat France 45-40 in the quarter-finals, ahead of accounting for China in the semi-finals, winning with a 25-21 score.

China then took the bronze medal against Russia, 45-42, making it the fifth time in six years they made the podium in this event.

The Korean men successfully defended their world title in the men’s sabre competition, despite a strong comeback by their opponents Italy.

Both nations have a bit of recent and past history in the competition. Korea won last year against Hungary in Leipzig, to became the first non-European country in history to win men’s team sabre at the world championships. Italy for their part has won this event 26 times in total.

However it was the Koreans who prevailed on this occasion after a consistent performance throughout the tournament. Having received a bye at the last 32 stage, they beat Hong Kong 45-24 in the last 16, France 45-38 in the quarter-finals, before negotiating the semi-final against Georgia, 45-34.

That brought them face-to-face with the Italians and the Koreans swept into what looked a comfortable winning position only for their opponents to offer some resistance and draw themselves back into contention. However it proved to no avail as the Koreans got the decisive touches they needed to win 4-39.

The victory was significant for Korea’s Kim Jung-hwan, the senior member of the team, who at 34 became a double gold medalist having earlier won the individual sabre gold medal. He is also the first South Korean fencer to win both the individual and team gold medal at the same world championship.

Italy’s progress to their eventual silver medal saw them beat Great Britain 45-22, Russia 45-31, ahead of a narrow win over Hungary in the semi-finals, 45-42. In the match for third place, Hungary took the bronze medal over Georgia, 45-36.