National fencer Mohammad Yunos Hj Hamid (L) in action at the Guangzhou Asian Games yesterday. Picture: Infofoto

He might not have won any medals for the country, but national fencer Mohammad Yunos Hj Hamid had achieved his target in the men's individual sabre event at the Guangzhou Asian Games yesterday.

The Sultanate's sole fencer at the 16th edition of the Games was shown the exit door in the third round at Guangda Gymnasium when pitted against ranked No 1 Gu Bon Gil.

It was a dominant performance by the South Korean, who led by six points (8-2) prior to the one-minute break in their match.

The match resumed and Mohammad Yunos was unable to cut down the deficit, succumbing to a 15-6 defeat.

"Though I was up against a fencer ranked No 1, I was neither scared nor overconfident. I was able to perform as I wanted to. But Gu wasn't ranked No 1 for nothing he had more speed, he was quick to read my movements and was able to change his technique to adapt," said Mohammad Yunos when contacted by The Brunei Times yesterday.

"I could have done better, but in the end it just wasn't enough. I tried my best but was stopped by the best at the Games.

"Overall it's okay eventhough I wanted to progress further. Alhamdulillah, at least I was able to progress one step further than what I aimed for," added the 26-year-old athlete.

Mohammad Yunos was able to book a slot in the Round of 32 although he was only able to notch a single win in the group stage.

His lone victory in Pool D was against 2005 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold-medallist Mendoza Walbert which he won 5-4 over the Filipino.

Mohammad Yunos lost the other three matches in the pool; going down to China's Wang Jingzhi 5-0, losing to Iran's Abedini Shormasti 5-1 and falling to Kazakhstan's Frolov Yevgenity 5-2.

However his index (number of victories / number of matches) of 0.250 placed him 12th overall to qualify for the next round. (Only 18 of 23 fencers advanced to the second round).

The 2007 Sea Games bronze-medallist easily defeated his second round opponent Alshamlan KMHS, triumphing 15-7 over the Kuwait-national before his exit in the Last 16 at the hands of Gu.

Gu went on to lift gold for South Korea defeating China's Zhong Man 15-13 in the final.

Defeated semi-finalists Oh Eun Seok and Wang are joint-bronze medallists.

"Judging by his performance, it was quite good. Although it's the Asian Games but the 2008 Olympics champion (Zhong), world fencing champion and world youth champion are here too, so it's actually a world-class competition," said national fencing coach Rocky Poerawinata.

"We were also placed into the strongest pool. Walbert is a SEA Games gold-medallist and Shormasti used to be a world youth champion so to be able to reach the third round is good enough. Overall, I'm satisfied that he was able to follow my instructions," said the Indonesian.

The country continues its quest at the Chinese metropolis next Wednesday when Pg Mohd Nasir Pg Anak Jaafar sees action in the equestrian show jumping discipline.

Karate-do exponent Muhammad Fida'iy Hj Sanif (men's kumite -60kg) and his older brother Mohammad Fadillah (men's kumite -67kg) will do battle next Thursday.

Mainudin Hj Mohamad and Mohammad Jamil Hj Abd Hamid will be the last of the country's eight athletes to do battle at the Games when they compete in the men's kumite -75kg and men's kumite -84kg next Friday.

Courtesy from Brunei Times