WUXI, China, July 20 (Xinhua) -- It was a disappointing day for the Chinese men's epee team at the 2018 World Fencing Championships. After several very close matches, only Xue Yangdong squeezed his way into the last 64 after the individual preliminary rounds. By contrast, all of the four Chinese women's foil fencers advanced to the finals with relative ease.

The individual preliminary rounds consist of pool matches and knockout matches. The four Chinese women's foil fencers, Chen Qingyuan, Huo Xingxin, Fu Yiting and Shi Yue clinched their places in the finals after the pool matches.

However, the Chinese men's epee team found the going tougher. In their knockout matches, Lan Minghao, Shi Gaofeng and Wang Zijie were defeated respectively by scores of 14-15, 7-8 and 9-15. With his score of 15-14, Xue Yangdong was the only Chinese men's competitor to reach the last 64.

The finals of the women's foil and the men's epee will begin on Monday. The 2018 World Fencing Championships run until July 27 at the Wuxi New Sports Center Gymnasium. Fencers from 108 countries and regions will vie for 12 titles in foil, epee and sabre.

In total, China sent 27 athletes to compete in the women's and men's individual and team events.