China team members hold their silver medals for the men's Team Foil event at the Fencing World Championships in Milan, Italy, July 30, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

MILAN - China took a surprising silver in the men's foil team after losing to Japan 45-35, as the 2023 Fencing World Championships concluded on Sunday.

China's men's team, composed of Cheng Haiwei, Mo Ziwei, Xu Jie and Wu Bin, overcame a 10-5 deficit in the opening bouts to beat powerhouses France 45-38, before encountering world No. 1 United States in the semifinal.

Japan's Takahiro Shikine (left) competes against China's Xu Jie during the men's Team Foil final at the Fencing World Championships in Milan, Italy, July 30, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

The World Championships is the most important competition of the year and the performance of the men's foil team today gives us hope. Hopefully it can boost our morale ... But judging from the final, we still have a lot to work on.

Wang Haibin, President of Chinese Fencing Association

China showed no mercy from the very beginning as they led all the way to a comfortable 45-35 win over last year's runners-up, cruising into the men's foil team final at the World Championships for the first time since 2010 in Paris.

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Mo made a stunning 5-0 start in the final, but newly-crowned Asian Championship winners Japan bounced back and took the lead in the third bout. China fought hard to close the gap but had to settle for a silver, making the podium again following a bronze in Moscow in 2015.

"The World Championships is the most important competition of the year and the performance of the men's foil team today gives us hope," said Wang Haibin, president of the Chinese Fencing Association. "Hopefully it can boost our morale."

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"But judging from the final, we still have a lot to work on," he added.

France's Marie-Florence Candassamy (right) competes with China's Sun Yiwen during the women's Individual Epee semifinal at the Fencing World Championships in Milan, Italy, July 25, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

France's Marie-Florence Candassamy (second left), winner of women's Individual Epee final, celebrates on the podium with second-placed Italy's Alberta Santuccio (left) and third-placed China's Sun Yiwen (right) and Italy's Mara Navarria at the Fencing World Championships in Milan, Italy, July 25, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

Besides a team silver in the men's foil, Tokyo Olympic champion Sun Yiwen claimed a bronze medal in the women's epee individual but only led China to a 12th-place finish in the team event.

Coming off a bronze at the Asian Championships in Wuxi last month, China's women's epee team still have a long way to go to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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"Our team didn't move on from the defeat in Wuxi. It is all a process. We will keep going until the last [qualifier] and try our best to qualify for Paris," Wang noted.