India narrowly missed out on a medal in Asian Games fencing when Taniksha Khatri lost to world No 2 Man Wai Vivian Kong of Hong Kong 7-15 in individual epee quarterfinal here on Sunday.
Khatri, who won her three pool matches to qualify for the knockout round, had seven touches but her opponent was superior and sealed the issue to make the semifinals.
A quarterfinal win would have guaranteed at least a bronze medal for the Indian who out-performed her teammate Ena Arora by just four points (15-11) in the round of 32.
Khatri then prevailed over Uzbekistan’s Shakhzoda Egamberdieva 15-10.
Earlier in the pool matches, Khatri defeated Ivy Claire Dinoy of Philippines (5-1), Zolboo Ochirkhuyag of Mongolia (5-0) and Yemen’s Samah Abdullah Musleh Alshami 5-1.
Her only two losses were to Singapore’s Elle Meihui Koh (1 5) and South Korea’s Sera Song 3 5.
The knock-outs have three rounds of three-minute each and the fencer who completes 15 touches is adjudged the winner.
The pool matches on the other hand have the best of five touches.
Two more Indians — Bibish Kathiresan and Dev — were in the fray on Sunday.
Kathiresan lost to South Korea’s Kwanghyun Lee 5-15 in the last-32, while Dev was knocked out by Chinese Taipei’s Yi-Tung Chen 8 15.
Two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Bhavani Devi, who is India’s biggest medal hope in fencing, will begin her campaign on Tuesday.
The sabre fencer is fresh from winning a bronze medal at the Asian Championships in Wuxi, China in June.
