Asian Games: India suffer double fencing setback, men's foil and women's epee teams exit in round of 16

Nagoya, India suffered a double setback in the fencing events at the Asian Games on Friday, with both the men's foil and women's epee teams knocked out in the round of 16.

The men's foil team suffered a 27-45 defeat to Hong Kong, while the women's epee side went down 29-45 to Uzbekistan.

The Indian trio of Aditya, Hemash Singh Sanasam and Sachin fell behind early and could not close the gap as Hong Kong opened up an 18-point gap by the end of the seventh relay to seal it in their favour at the Aichi Sky Expo Hall F.


However, the Indian women's team of Taniksha Khatri, Yashkeerat Kaur Hayer and Mitva Jesangbhai Chaudhari stayed within striking distance at 14-17 after relay four but they struggled to keep pace as Uzbekistan pulled away from the fifth relay to seal the win.

In the men's event, the score after the first relay was 2-5, with Sachin scoring two touches against Choi Chun Yin Ryan's five.

Sanasam added three touches in the second relay, but Hong Kong extended its lead to 10-5 through Ho Shing Him Harris.

Aditya then produced India's strongest early effort, scoring six touches in the third relay, but Cheung Ka Long added five for Hong Kong, leaving India 11-15 behind.

Sachin added one touch in the fourth relay, while Ho scored five as Hong Kong moved 20-12 ahead.

The fifth relay saw Aditya score one and Choi add five, taking the score to 25-13

Sanasam hit one in the sixth relay, while Cheung added five to make it 30-14.

Aditya scored three in the seventh relay, but Ho again scored five, leaving Hong Kong 35-17 ahead.

India mounted its biggest fightback in the eighth relay when Sachin scored seven touches, while Leung Chin Yu added five for Hong Kong, reducing the deficit to 40-24.

However, Hong Kong closed out the match in the final relay, with Choi scoring five against Sanasam's three.

Team foil is a relay-style event involving three fencers from each team.

The match consists of nine bouts and the scores are carried forward from one bout to the next, and the first team to reach 45 touches wins.

In foil, fencers score by hitting their opponent with the tip of the weapon on the valid target area, mainly the torso.

In epee, fencers can score a touch by hitting any part of the opponent's body, including the head, arms, legs and feet.

Unlike foil, there is no right-of-way rule in epee, so if both fencers score at almost the same time, both can be awarded a touch.

In team event, three fencers compete in nine relay bouts, with the target score rising from 5 to 45.