Kano made historical past for Japan within the males’s epee gold medal match in opposition to host nation favourite Yannick Borel of France.

After a penalty for passivity within the first bout, the match picked up with Kano shortly gaining a lead over Borel and finally prevailing with an aggressive lunge that secured a 15-9 win.

“I wished to return right here and get gold within the particular person and I simply did it,” Kano mentioned.

Kano could add a second gold medal from this Video games when he makes an attempt to defend his title within the Olympic males’s staff epee occasion on August 2. Borel’s silver medal is his first end on the boys’s particular person epee podium out of 4 Olympics.

“It feels good to have a medal nevertheless it feels unhealthy to lose the match,” Borel mentioned.

Earlier, within the first males’s semifinal match, Kano was victorious in a decent match in opposition to Tibor Andrasfi of Hungary. The 2 have been tied 13-13 earlier than going right into a sudden-death tiebreaker spherical. Andrasfi had the precedence, however Kano scored a contact to advance to the gold medal match.

After a minute of passivity within the different males’s semifinal match, Borel had the help of a roaring French crowd as he defeated Egypt’s Mohamed Elsayed 15-9 to maneuver ahead to the ultimate.

The bronze medal match between Andrasfi and Elsayed concluded with dramatic clashes for the ultimate contact.

Tied 7-7, the match went right into a one-minute sudden-death extra time spherical with Elsayed holding the precedence. After a number of double touches that weren’t counted earlier than time ran out, the clock was rolled again to 4.47 seconds. Elsayed and Andrasfi each tried to attain touches twice, and on the 2.29-second mark, Elsayed was in a position to go across the blade to attain the profitable contact in a counterattack.

“It was so, so intense. Loads of suspense occurred within the final interval,” Elsayed, the primary African fencer to win a medal on this occasion, mentioned. “It simply feels superb once you win and also you notice that you simply’re getting an Olympic medal.”

Males’s particular person epee medalists
🥇Koki Kano (JPN)
🥈Yannick Borel (FRA)
🥉Mohamed Elsayed (EGY)

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