The Hong Kong men's epee fencing team suffered defeat by the slimmest of margins on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the National Games.

Cedric Ho, Fong Hoi-sun, Anson Ng and Lau Ho-fung were beaten 44-45 by their Shandong opponents at Kai Tak Arena.

Trailing by a touch entering the final bout, Lau came on as a substitute for Fong to take on Ma Xiao.

The Hong Kong fencer managed to tie the score at 43 apiece, but Ma then built a one-touch lead with less than 30 seconds to go.

With the need for Lau to attack as the clock wound down, both fencers ended up with a double touch for the final margin.

In the women's bracket, the foil fencing team of Sophia Wu, Valerie Cheng, Felicia Kuan and Wu Jiawei were also knocked out of the quarterfinals at the hands of team Chongqing.

Trailing 22-28 entering the seventh bout, Kuan managed a 10-6 spurt against Chen Shilin to cut the deficit to two.

Chongqing's Wang Yingying, however, closed things out in the final bout with a 9-3 run against Cheng, for the eventual 45-36 victory.