Natalie Chan is a real crowd puller as she struts her stuff at Discovery Park shopping centre
- The 21-year-old shines in front of curious shoppers in Tsuen Wan
- The Hong Kong born fencer is hoping to follow in her dad’s footsteps and qualify for the Olympics
Discovery Park shopping centre in Tsuen Wan isn’t quite the place you would expect an up-and-coming young fencer to be showing her potential but in Natalie Chan Wai-ling’s case it was the perfect venue to highlight her skills on Sunday.
In front of hundreds of curious spectators, the 21-year-old youngster impressed shoppers and tourists alike as she took bronze in the women’s épée competition at the Blue Cross Hong Kong Open, which was held at the spacious shopping centre for the first time to generate more interest in the sport.
Chan is trying to follow in her father’s footsteps by representing Hong Kong at the Tokyo Olympic Games and she showed her potential with a good showing in her first major competition.
She lost to the much more experienced Vivian Kong Man-wai, the world number seven, 15-9 in the semi-finals. Kong went on to win the title.
Chan was born in Hong Kong before moving to New Zealand at the age of two with her father, Chan Kai-sang, who represented Hong Kong in a series of international competitions, including the 1988 Seoul Olympics, also in épée, before his retirement.