Olympics-Fencing-Queen Kong breaks French hearts to take maiden gold in women's epee

By Juliette Jabkhiro

PARIS (Reuters) -Hong Kong's fencing queen Vivian Kong claimed her first Olympic gold medal in a nerve-wracking bout against local favourite Auriane Mallo-Breton of France in the women's epee at the Paris Games on Saturday.

Kong, who prevailed 13-12 in sudden death, was in floods of tears after coming back from six touches down.

"I just thought I was going to lose but I didn't want it to be so badly so I just tried to enjoy the stage," the world number one said.

Eszter Muhari of Hungary took bronze.

On a good day for Asian fencers, Kong rallied from 7-1 down to end her French opponent’s hopes in front of French President Emmanuel Macron, who took his place in the stands as Mallo-Breton was seemingly cruising to victory.

Oh Sanguk of South Korea won gold in the men's sabre individual event against Tunisia's Fares Ferjani with Italian Luigi Samele taking bronze.

It was a day full of upsets, with favourites Sun Yiwen of China and Hungary's Aron Szilagyi suffering shock eliminations in their respective first bouts.

Out of the six French fencers taking part in both events, Mallo-Breton was the only one to make it to the quarter-finals.

Mallo-Breton was aiming to become the first French woman to win the women's epee title since Laura Flessel in 1996, but is still the first to grab an individual medal for France in the discipline since 2004.

On the verge of losing early in the competition to Ukrainian Dzhoan Feybi Bezhura, she rallied from 13-10 down as supporters chanted her name to win in sudden death.

All day, the elegant Grand Palais, which is located a stone's throw from Macron’s Elysee Palace, was more like a football stadium as the partisan crowd roared their support for the French fencers.

But Kong denied them the home victory they craved.

(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Toby Davis)