Cypriot fencer Alexandros Tofalidis was knocked out of the Olympic Games at the last 32 stage after an agonising 15-10 defeat at the hands of American Nick Itkin on Monday.

Itkin is a big hitter in the fencing world, having won a silver medal at last year’s World championships in Milan and bronze at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

Tofalidis kept him honest in what was a close match throughout, but eventually came up short at the Palace of Versailles.

Earlier in the day, he had beaten Poland’s Andrian Wojtowak 15-10 to advance to face Itkin.