The Chinese men took gold in the match against Iraq, competing in their first Paralympic final and a real threat to the dominance of wheelchair fencing’s most successful fencing nation.

On paper, Sun Gang, Jianquan Tian and Jie Zhang had nothing to worry about. Gang was the individual medallist and an owner of three Paralympic golds from Paris 2024.

But Iraq’s Hayder Al-Ogaili, Ammar Ali and Zainelabdeen Al-Madhkhoori beat China to the title at last year’s World Championships. Despite not medalling individually on a regular basis, when combined the trio have become formidable.

They took the battle to the Chinese on Saturday night, and in return China took them seriously. The air at the Grand Palais was thick with tension as the match unfolded.

There was little to separate the two teams throughout. China took no chances and fielded Gang for the last bout against Al-Madhkhoori. Gang then unleashed a flurry of successful hits onto the Iraqi to win the match and secure his place as the most decorated fencer of this Paralympics.

“We’ll open the champagne,” Tian said. 

Zhang said: “I’m very happy to have won this team gold. It’s my first time taking part in the Paralympic Games, and I’m very grateful for my teammates.”

Despite pushing hard for the gold and missing out, Ali was still able to recognised his team’s achievement: “It’s amazing. We worked a lot. This medal it’s not come by chance. We spent a lot of time outside our country and leave our families. Thank God for this.”

Great Britain matched their Tokyo 2020 performance and bought their team medal tally to two in the bronze medal match. Category A silver medallist Piers Gilliver, Paris 2024 category B Paralympic champion, Dimitri Coutya and Oliver Lam-Watson eased past Poland’s Michal Nalewajek, Michal Dabrowski and Dariusz Pender.

The bronze brings Coutya’s total medal count to four – one from each individual, including two golds, and team foil and epee events – and Gilliver’s to four across all three weapons.

“I always find the [Paralympic Games] so incredible,” Coutya said. “This has been a three-year cycle, but generally four years of your life has just been put into five days of competition. Horribly gruelling, but I’m really proud of the work that my team and these boys in particular have put in.

“It’s really tough to come away with a Paralympic medal, and to have such consistent performers on a team over so many years is really a feat that we should all be proud of.”

China retained their title in a rematch of the Tokyo 2020 final with Ukraine in the women’s.

Ukraine’s line-up of Yevheniia Breus, Nataliia Morkvych, Olena Fedota-Isaieva and Nataliia Mandryk from three years ago remained unchanged but China fielded a completely renewed team.

Haiyan Gu, Kang Su and substitute Yuandong Chen had also all won medals in individual epee in Paris whilst Xufeng Zou is also no slouch as the current world champion.

With the gold, Haiyan Gu ends Paris 2024 as the most decorated female fencer with three golds, one silver and a bronze in a podium sweep of all individual and team events across all three weapons. Chen and Zou also leave with three golds each.

“This is very emotional for me. We’ve trained very hard for this moment,” Zou said. “Before the competition, we discussed this and said we would do this as a team. If there was any gap to make up on, we would be there for each other.

“This is the legacy that the wheelchair fencers before us have left behind, and it’s something we want to carry well.”

On Ukraine’s loss, Doloh said: “We feel very good, and so happy that together we can do it. Today was their day, but we hope that we change it in the future. The team is very important for us because we represent [Ukraine] here, and together it’s power for Ukraine, for our situation.”

Thailand broke 15,000 French hearts whilst entering the history books in the women’s bronze medal match.

Saysunee Jana – the new Paralympic champion in all three weapons in the category B at Paris 2024 – joined forces with Apinya Thongdaeng and Duean Nakprasit to take on Brianna Vide, Clemence Delavoipiere and Cecile Demaude.

It was an equally matched affair highlighted by a great show of Jana’s experience and skill against category A and B fencers alike. Meanwhile Brianna Vide – who has gained notoriety this week due to her exuberant celebrations – also put in strong performances and once again had the crowd in the palm of her hand.

Thailand however had their own agenda. Their appearance in the bronze medal match, on their Paralympic debut as a women’s team, was already a huge achievement. But a medal was what they wanted.

And it was what they got. With the score at 38-40 to Thailand, Thongdaeng faced Delavoipiere. Both women have a similar level of experience and it was anyone’s guess how it would end. Thongdaeng managed to stretch away and reach the magic 45, leaving the French team in tears. But they can be pleased with their performance, especially as it was their first entry to the event since 2004.

“We feel very happy about it. There was no more pressure, everything felt free, everything felt liberated. All the work that we poured in, all the weeks, all the hours, it felt liberating. Now it’s only joy,” Nakprasit said.

“It was the heart. We had the sword in our spirit, we had to fight. With the help of our fans, we had it. We were very focused on the match. We didn’t care about the cheers of the French fans. We had to be focused on what was happening in front of us, and we let the moment pass.”

“It’s the end of the competition. We gave everything to go and get this bronze medal, we didn’t succeed, Demaude said. “We should have recharged our heavy bodies and heavy minds, but it was difficult. I don’t know what we were missing. We felt good, but maybe they were a bit more experienced than us. We’ve got a young team, their category B [Jana] is a bit better than me.

“We gave everything, we did the best we could. We’re super-disappointed.”

China end the wheelchair fencing competition with an impressive 10 golds, five silver and four bronze medals. Thailand were second with three golds – all of which belong to Jana – one silver and one bronze. Great Britain, with two golds, three silvers and one bronze end third.

Wheelchair fencing at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games took place between 3-7 September. Featuring 97 fencers from 21 delegations – including the refugee Paralympic Team – 16 sets of medals have been won in the individual men’s and women’s epee, foil and sabre and men’s and women’s team epee and foil.

Countries such as Turkiye have won historic first Paralympic medals in Paris, or have returned to the podium, such as Germany, South Korea and Spain.

Fencers will now enjoy a break in the calendar before returning to the pistes for the last competition of the year in Pisa, Italy, for a World Cup between 7-10 November.

Pictures from all medal events are available for editorial use here.