China's Sheng Lei took a fencing gold in the men's individual foil Tuesday, beating Alaaeldin Abouelkassem from Egypt 15-13 in a heart-stopping final on Tuesday.
Lei grabbed an 8-5 lead in the first period, but Abouelkassem fought back to 11-11.
The Egyptian went two points ahead in the last period, but Lei came back for the required 15 points to snatch victory.
Abouelkassem's silver was the first medal for Egypt so far, as well as for Africa in fencing, while Lei's triumph added 11th gold to a total of 21 Chinese medals.
Choi Byung-Chul of South Korea took bronze with a 15-14 win over the Italian Andrea Baldini.
Baldini struggled initially, going down 9-5 by the end of the first period.
The Italian staged a brief comeback before the final round, but Choi made a decisive hit shortly after the break.
