Defending Olympic fencing champion Kim Ji-yeon suffered a shocking third-round loss at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Monday.

Kim, the women's individual sabre gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, lost to Loreta Gulotta of Italy 15-13 in the round of 16 at Carioca Arena 3.

Kim went down 2-0 early in the bout before going ahead 9-5.

Gulotta, though, ate into the deficit and made it an 11-11 tie.

Then Gulotta scored three unanswered points to take a 14-11 lead. With her back against the wall, Kim managed to pick up two points, before the Italian closed out the bout with the 15th and the clinching point.

Two other South Koreans, Seo Ji-yeon and Hwang Seon-a, also suffered early defeats.

South Korea remains without a medal after three days of fencing competition, having also been shut out in the women's individual epee and the men's individual foil.

In London, South Korea won six medals in fencing, including two gold, to finish second overall behind Italy. (Yonhap)