Nhat knocked out of Olympic fencing event

Vietnamese fencer Nguyen Tien Nhat failed to progress to the next round of his event at the London Olympics yesterday.

Nhat, the Vietnamese flag-bearer during the opening ceremony last Friday, lost to Alimzhanov Elmir of Kazakhstan 15-9 in the qualifying round of the men's individual epee – round of 32. Elmir will meet Jung Jinsun of South Korea in the round of 16.

Nhat ranks 230th in the world, while Elmir is the world No 4 and participated at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Female shooter Le Thi Hoang Ngoc also missed out yesterday after finishing 32nd out of 39 rivals in the women's 25m pistol event. She also suffered disappointment in the 10m air rifle qualifier, standing in 21st out of 49 shooters.

Rowers Pham Thi Hai and Pham Thi Thao didn't have a good race in the women's lightweight double sculls on Tuesday. They finished fifth out of six teams and will not go through to the semi-finals.-VNS