Gold medallist Lei Sheng (C) of China poses next to silver medallist Alaaeldin Abouelkassem (L) of Egypt and bronze medallist Choi Byungchul South Korea during the award ceremony for the men's individual foil fencing competition at the ExCel venue Tuesday. — Reuters LONDON – China's Lei Sheng beat back a surging Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of Egypt to win Olympic gold in the men's individual foil Tuesday. Lei forged into an early 6-2 lead but Abouelkassem hit back, launching fearless attacks that used his height as an advantage before the Chinese, eighth at the 2008 Games, regained momentum to win 15-13. Abouelkassem had beaten former world champions Andrea Baldini of Italy and Peter Joppich of Germany to reach the semifinal stage, the first African to do so. It was the first men's individual Olympic foil without a European nation represented in the top three since 1900 when France swept the table. South Korea's Choi Byungchul took the bronze. China takes 3rd w-lifting gold Lin Qingfeng won China's third weightlifting gold medal of the London Olympics by crushing all opponents in a 69-kg competition marked by a high number of failed lifts. Qingfeng finished with a total of 344 kgs, 11 kgs better than silver medalist Triyatno of Indonesia. Razvan Martin of Romania took the bronze. Maiya Maneza won Kazakhstan's second weightlifting gold and set an Olympic record in the women's 63-kg category. World champion Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia got the silver medal while Canada's Christine Girard took bronze, her country's first Olympic medal in women's weightlifting. Maneza, 26, was second after lifting 110 kgs in the snatch but secured the gold medal by taking 135 kgs in her first clean and jerk for a total weight of 245 kgs, beating the previous Olympic record by 3 kgs. South Korea, Slovenia win judo gold medals It was a classic exercise in civility as the two judokas who had been attempting to throw and strangle one another abandoned the sport's brutal moves as soon as it was over — and hugged. Kim Jae-bum of South Korea won the gold in the 81-kg category Tuesday, besting Ole Bischof of Germany in a final that he dominated from the start, throwing Bischof twice and often attacking, even when both were locked in grappling techniques on the ground. It was a reversal of the final of the Beijing Olympics, where Bischof won. This time, he said, Kim deserved the victory. “He is much stronger and quicker now,” Bischof said. “I think we have the correct champion.” It was South Korea's first judo gold medal of the London Games and adds to the country's judo tally; teammate Cho Jun-ho won a bronze in the lightweight men's division earlier this week. The bronze medals were won by Ivan Nifontov of Russia and Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada. In the women's division, Urska Zolnir of Slovenia won the women's 63-kg class, defeating Xu Lili of China in a combative final where both fighters were almost constantly on the offensive. Zolnir managed to throw Xu once in the match's first minute, which was ultimately enough to win. The bronze medals were won by Yoshie Ueno of Japan and Gevrise Emane of France. — Agencies
