Letters | Tokyo Olympics: Hong Kong fencing gold made extra special as Covid batters world sport
- The opportunity to train and fight alongside top-class international competitors is vital to building skills to win. Yet Edgar Cheung topped the world when the chances for that were almost nil
May I add my deep congratulations to Edgar Cheung Ka-long for his brilliant achievement in getting Hong Kong’s first Olympic fencing gold medal.
He and his coaches worked very hard for years. I had the honour, long ago, to fence for Hong Kong and would highlight a special point of achievement: the opportunity to train and fight alongside excellent international competitors is vital to building skills to win. Yet 24-year-old Cheung has won Olympic gold in a time when that opportunity was almost nil. It is quite remarkable.
Hong Kong has a precedent for such a plucky and effective performance, which laid the foundation for today’s success: in the 1996 Paralympics, under the training of Ricky Wang Ruiji, Hong Kong’s disabled fencers brought back four gold medals.
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The road to Olympic gold for Hong Kong’s unassuming fencing hero, Edgar Cheung Ka-long
We who love fencing want all who might enjoy a quick-thinking, technical and high energy sport – or just want to have fun – to come and join us!
Paul Serfaty, Mid-Levels
NowTV plays fair game over the Olympics