World No 1 Vivian Kong set for new season after speedy recovery from ACL injury
- The top fencer will feature in opening round of épée World Cup series starting in Estonia on Friday
- The 25-year-old remains one of the few Hong Kong medal hopes for next year’s Tokyo Olympics
World No 1 Vivian Kong Man-wai is fit for the new fencing season after a speedy recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury picked up at the world championships this summer.
The 25-year-old épée ace left earlier this week for Tallinn, Estonia, where she will encounter her major rivals in the opening round of the last World Cup series before the 2020 Olympics.
The world’s top 10 fencers, including Lin Sheng and Sun Yiwen of China, Kang Young-mi and Choi In-jeong of South Korea and reigning world champion Nathalie Moellhausen of Brazil, have all entered the event that starts on Friday.
At July’s world championships in Budapest, Kong injured the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee before losing to the Brazilian in the semi-finals and settling for a bronze, the first-ever medal from a Hong Kong fencer at a world championships. She was forced to abandon the following team event and had to fly back to Hong Kong for an operation.
It was the second time in her brief career that Kong suffered a serious injury, having snapped her left knee cruciate ligament in 2017 when she was preparing for that year’s world championships.
“We made a final medical check two weeks ago and the doctor gave her the green light to compete in the World Cup,” said head coach Zheng Zhoukang. “As a precaution, we also sent a physiotherapist and other support staff to Tallinn to take care of Kong.