China's Zhong Man and Zhou Hanming Tuesday advanced to the round of 16 in the Olympic men's sabre individual event.

Zhong beat Kothny Wiradech of Thailand 15-7 in the round of 32, while teammate Zhou outscored Hungary's Zsolt Nemcsik 15-13.

But their fellow Chinese Wang Jingzhi was knocked out after loosing to Frenchman Julien Pillet 15-14.

Pillet said the match was extremely hard for him as Chinese fencers have made rapid improvement over the past years under the guidance of their French coach.

"It's no easy job to fight with the Chinese fencers, and the home crowd also gave them an advantage," Pillet said.

Chinese fencers met with thundering cheers from the home crowd when they hit each point.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2008)