By Juliette Jabkhiro and Janina Nuno Rios
PARIS (Reuters) -Japan won the Olympic men's foil team title for the first time, beating Italy in a thrilling bout at the Paris Games on Sunday, while France took the bronze to break the country's Olympic medals post-war record.
Takahiro Shikine opened the scoring against Italy's Tommaso Marini and Kazuki Iimura, who finished fourth in the individual event on Monday, delivered the final touches in a 45-36 win.
"We still can't believe it, it means a lot," Japan's Kyosuke Matsuyama told reporters.
"I hope many Japanese can get a gold medal in fencing in future Olympics. We were focused in every moment, in every match."
The bout was tight, with Japan leading at first, then Italy, until Iimura scored seven decisive touches against Filippo Macchi, silver medallist in the individual event.
Then substitute Yudai Nagano who fenced a flawless round, scored five touches against Italy's Alessio Foconi to give Japan a comfortable lead of six touches.
It was Japan's fifth fencing medal overall and their second gold in Paris, putting them at the top of the medal table for the discipline, after Koki Kano won the individual title in the men's epee on Thursday.
They won the silver medal in the same event at the London Games in 2012 and have now won eight medals overall in Olympic fencing.
Japan's foil coaches, Frenchmen Erwann Le Pechoux and Franck Boidin, said earlier in the day that the country had a successful strategy to foster fencing talents, bringing in expertise from abroad in recent years.
"Honestly I don't realize yet what the boys have done, I was proud and happy to see them win, but I don't yet fully realize what they've achieved," Le Pechoux told reporters.
Japan cruised through the quarter-finals, beating Canada 45-26, and went on to eliminate local favourites France 45-37 in the semi-finals.
France had qualified for the semi-finals in a dramatic 45-35 win, after the bout was brought to a standstill for a while as China's Mo Ziwei sustained a shock that doctors worried might be a concussion.
After their loss to Japan, France went on to win the bronze medal bout against the United States. Lead at first, Enzo Lefort turned the tide, scoring eight touches against Nick Itkin, bronze medallist in the individual event.
The medal was France's 44th in Paris, topping the 43 the country won at the Beijing Games in 2008. France took more medals at the 1900 Paris Olympics, but only 27 countries and a fraction of the number of athletes participated compared with recent Games.
"It's not the medal of only four guys. It's the medal of all a population," Lefort told reporters.
"We're happy. We have done our job, and we'll be able to join the party."
(Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro and additional reporting by Janina Nuno Rios, Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)
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