Games-Jeon's fencing title defence foils compatriot Nam's milestone bid

Jeon Hee-sook defended her title in women's individual foil on Monday, prolonging compatriot Nam Hyun-hee's wait to become South Korea's most decorated Asian Games athlete on Monday.

Both Park Tae-hwan and Nam have six Asiad golds and with the male swimmer skipping the Games citing indifferent form, the fencer has a golden opportunity to surge ahead in Jakarta.

She, however, faltered in her first attempt, losing 15-7 to Jeon in the round of 16 at the Jakarta Convention Centre.

Jeon surged 13-3 ahead and then focused on protecting the lead, while Nam, in her fifth and final Asian Games, scored five consecutive points but never looked threatening.

Her next chance to win a gold will come in Thursday's team event.

South Koreans fans would probably have preferred an all-Korean final and Nam, 36, said she too wanted to avoid meeting Jeon so early in the competition.

"This is my last Asian Games and I wanted to win a medal in my last individual event even if it was not a gold," added Nam, who won the event at the 2006 and 2010 Games.

Jeon, who won the team foil bronze in the London 2012 Olympics, beat China's Fu Yiting 8-3 in the final as South Korea won their fourth consecutive Asian title.

The 34-year-old also thanked Nam for cheering her on.

"I could hear her clearly. I was really grateful for that," she said.

The all-Korea final happened in men's individual saber instead where Gu Bon-Gil pipped Oh Sang-UK 15-14 for his third successive Asian Games title.

South Korea has targeted eight out of 12 fencing golds, and a total of 65, which they hope will be enough to beat Japan to second place in the medal table behind China.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)