Yuki Ota

Who is Yuki Ota?

Yuki Ota is a Japanese foil fencer.

He started his career as a fencer in his junior high school years, influenced by his father, who had been also a fencer. He won the national junior high school championships. In Heian High School, he got third consecutive championship victories in national high school championships. Ota won the 2008 Asian Fencing Championships held in Bangkok.

In the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Ota reached the final of the men's individual foil held on 13 August 2008, by beating Germany's Peter Joppich 15–12 in the quarter finals and Salvatore Sanzo 15–14 in the semifinals. He lost 15–9 to Benjamin Kleibrink in the final, thus winning the silver medal. He is the first Japanese to be awarded an Olympic medal for foil fencing. He moved to the top of the world rankings after finishing runner-up in a Fleuret World Cup meet in Russia on 28 May 2009. In April 2009, he was invited by French fencing club Aix-en-Provence to participate in the 2009 French national championships.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he lost in the third round of the individual foil competition, but won a silver medal in the team foil event.