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| ▲ Choi In-jeong of South Korea takes a break during her 15-11 loss to Aizanat Murtazaeva of the Russian Olympic Committee in the round of 32 at the women's individual epee event at the Tokyo Olympics at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, Japan, on July 24, 2021. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Gu Bon-gil of South Korea (L) is in action against Matyas Szabo of Germany in the round 32 in the men's individual sabre event at the Tokyo Olympics at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, Japan, on July 24, 2021. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) (Olympics) S Korea-fencers
(LEAD) (Olympics) High-ranked S. Korean epee fencers gone after one match
(ATTN: ADDS more results in paras 4, 11; photo)
CHIBA, Japan, July 24 (Yonhap) -- A pair of top-10 fencers from South Korea got knocked out of the Olympic competition after their first matches on Saturday.
Choi In-jeong, world No. 2 in women's epee, lost to Aizanat Murtazaeva of the Russian Olympic Committee 15-11 in the round of 32 at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, east of Tokyo, on Saturday.
Also in the round of 32, the eighth-ranked Kang Young-mi fell to Nozomi Sato of Japan 15-14.
Song Se-ra was the only South Korean to advance to the round of 16, thanks to her 15-12 win over Katharine Holmes of the United States. But that's as far as Song went, as she lost to Ana Maria Rou Popescu of Romania 15-6.
Choi, who received the bye past the round of 64 as the No. 1 seed here, never led Murtazaeva, who is ranked well outside 200.
The third-time Olympian blamed the loss on jitters.
"I tried not to get rattled, but once I stepped on the piste, nerves got to me," she said. "I wanted to keep positive thoughts in my mind but I think the pressure to win outweighed everything else."
Kang was upset by the 42nd-ranked Sato and said she got more nervous than usual. She fell behind 4-1 early and never found her groove.
"My plan was to take an early lead, force the opponent to get overly aggressive and then go on counterattacks," Kang said. "I lost a lot of points midway through. Then when I got closer, I was in too much of a rush."
Not all is lost for Choi and Kang, who will compete in the epee team event on Tuesday.
In the men's sabre competition Saturday, Gu Bon-gil, the 2012 team gold medalist, was sent packing in the round of 32, where he lost to Matyas Szabo of Germany 15-8.
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