Indian fencers go down in men’s foil team prequarters

Hangzhou, Sep 27 (PTI) Indian fencers were eliminated in the last-16 round of men’s team foil event, going down to Singapore 30-45 in a lopsided contest at the Asian Games here on Wednesday.

India managed to win just one match in the last round when Bibish Kathiresan narrowly beat Kieren Lock 6-5.

Dev began the proceedings, losing to Kieren 2-5 before Kathiresan went down to Raphael Juan Kang Tan and Arjun lost to Elijah Robson Samuel by identical margins to trail 6-15.

Dev suffered his second loss of the day, this time by 1-5 margin to Tan as India trailed 7-20.

In their next matches, Arjun lost to Kieren Lock 3-5, while Kathiresan was pipped by Samuel 2-3 as India lagged by 16 points.

The battle of substitutes between India’s Akash and Tian Wei Jonathan Au Eong ended in a 5-all tie, while Dev also drew his next match against Samuel 7-7 as India trailed 24-40.

It was then Kathiresan who brought some cheer to the Indian camp securing the only win of the day as India men’s foil team exited with a win.