(UPDATE adds quotes)

Nikolai Kovalev took a fencing bronze for Russia in the men's individual saber on Sunday, beating Romania's Rares Dumitrescu in the third place match.

Kovalev raced to a 4-0 lead and held on to his advantage all the way to sealing a 15-10 win.

Despite his semifinal defeat to Hungary's Aron Szilagyi, Kovalev said he was more pleased with his bronze medal than he would have been with silver.

“Third place is better than second, you’re still a winner after all,” he said in televised comments.

Both fencers had earlier survived an afternoon session that saw many of the world's highest-ranked fencers suffer embarrassing early exits.