France wins team epee gold. [Xinhua]

France wins team epee gold. [Xinhua]

France successfully defended its Olympic champion in the men's epee team event at the Beijing Olympic Games on Friday, defeating Poland 45-29.

Fabrice Jeannet and Jerome Jennet, who were also in the gold medal winning French team at the 2004 Athens Games, contributed 17 and 13 points each to the victory, while Ulrich Robeiri gained 15.

"This is the last time I will be competing with my brother (Fabrice) so it is very special. I am happy, superbly, superbly happy," said Jerome Jeannet after the match.

For the Polish team, three players Tomasz Motyka, Robert Andrzejuk, and Radoslaw Zawrotniak scored 11, 12 and 6 points respectively.

"We actually did expect a medal, but we never thought it would be a silver one. The match against China was really tough and we came back from behind. The home advantage really worked for them. As for this final against France, they really fenced beautifully," said the Polish fencer Motyka.

Bronze medal of the team event went to Italy, which beat China 45-35 in an earlier bout.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)