In the Paralympic Wheelchair Fencing competition today, China's Ye Ruyi beat teammate Zhang Lei in the Men's Foil A gold medal match, Chinese fencer Hu Daoliang clinched gold in the Men's Foil B and Hong Kong's Chan Yui-chong won the Women's Foil B competition.
Ye resisted a brave fight back from teammate Zhang Lei to win the first gold medal of the competition in the Men's Foil A category. Ye led 10-5 but gave away three red card penalty points and Zhang recovered to level the scores at 12-12. But the 21 year old from Jiangsu Province kept a cool head and closed out the match, taking the next three points.
The bronze medal in the Men's Foil A category went to Dariusz Pender from Poland who defeated Hong Kong's Chan Wing-kin 15-9. Earlier, Chan had knocked out the World No. 1 Matteo Betti of Italy in the quarterfinals. The results mean that Zhang and Pender win the same medals they won in this event at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
Hu showed how much progress he has made in the four years since he competed at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, winning the gold medal in the Foil category B with a 15-8 victory over World No. 2 Laurent Francois of France. The 28-year-old Hu, also from Jiangsu Province, beat American Scott Rodgers and Pal Szekeres of Hungary to reach the final.
World No. 3 Szekeres won the bronze medal, the fifth consecutive time he has won a Paralympic medal, by beating Ukraine's Andrii Komar 15-10. It adds to the gold medals the 43 year old won at the Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games, as well as the bronze medals he won at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Paralympic Games. Earlier, Szekeres knocked out Hui Charn-hung of Hong Kong, the gold medalist in this event at the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
The 25-year-old Chan, who won four medals at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, never looked threatened in her match against Yao Fang of China, easing to a 15-8 win in the final of the Women's Foil B category.
The bronze medal match of the Women's Foil B category was a tight contest, with China's Ye Hua, competing in her first Paralympics, beating Saysunee Jana of Thailand 15-14.
(BOCOG September 14, 2008)