Chinese fencer Li Na was outscored by world's top seed Germany's Britta Heidemann 15-13 on Wednesday at the semifinal of 2008 Beijing Olympics women's epee individual event.

The two top fencers started the bout very cautiously, scoring no points for more than two minutes till the referee gave each of them a yellow card.

Li opened the scoring then. Heidemann, who is a personal friend of Li, overtook from 7-7 and fought more aggressively after another tie at 9-9, till she won the ticket to the gold medal bout.

The other semifinal will be between Ildiko Mincza Nebald of Hungary and Romanian fencer Ana Maria Branza.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)