Chinese fencers below-par at World Championships

WUXI, China - The finals of the individual women's epee and men's sabre at the 2018 World Fencing Championships began here on Sunday. Among the eight Chinese fencers, no one advanced to the last 16.

The women's epee was hit hard on Sunday though it has always been a strength of Chinese fencing.

In the last-16 clash, Olympic medalist and No.6 seed Sun Yiwen was defeated by Laura Staehli of Switzerland by scores of 8-15. No.14 seed Zhu Mingye lost to Russia's Tatyana Andryushina 13-15, and Lin Sheng and Hou Guangjuan were knocked out in the first round of the finals.

The same situation happened in the men's sabre. Lu Yang and Wang Shi were knocked out in the first round, while Xu Yingming and Yan Yinghui were eliminated in the next round, failing to make it to the last 16.

Sun Yiwen told Xinhua after the match that she was trying to adopt a new strategy, but had failed to use it properly.

Mara Navarria of Italy claimed the individual women's epee gold and South Korean Kim Jung-hwan won the men's sabre competition.

The finals of the women's foil and the men's epee will begin on Monday, with five Chinese fencers taking part in Monday's competition.

The 2018 World Fencing Championships runs until July 27 at the Wuxi New Sports Center Gymnasium. Fencers from 109 countries and regions will vie for 12 titles in foil, epee and sabre.

In total, China has sent 27 athletes to compete in the women's and men's individual and team events.