Italian Montano wins first fencing gold medal in Athens

Aldo Montano awarded Italy the first fencing gold medal with a sensational come-back win over Hungary's Zsolt Nemcsik in the men's individual sabre at the Athens Olympic Games Saturday.

Montano, who is ranked sixth in the world, won the last two rounds to beat world No. 5 Nemcsik 15-14 in the final at the Helliniko Fencing Hall.

The 25-year-old Italian never had the lead until 12-11 against Nemcsik, who opened the final with a 5-1 advantage.

Nemcsik took back the driving seat at 14-13 after his opponent seemed to stretch his right leg and lost that round.

After a successful counter-attack to even the score at 14-14, Montano initiated the final attack and gained the winning decision from the referee to win his first Olympic gold medal on the first try.

"This is a very special day to me," said Montano, whose father and grand-father were also Olympians. "My father and grandfather never won an individual medal in the Olympic Games. Today I fulfilled their dreams."

In the bronze medal final, Vladislav Tretiak of Ukraine, a world No. 24 player who upset top-ranked teammate Vladimire Lukashenko, beat world No. 7 Drmitri Lapkes of Belarus 15-11.

Source: Xinhua