Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong fencers on the verge of making history and qualifying for Olympics

Hong Kong’s men’s foil team moved a step closer to their Olympic debut with a morale-boosting fourth-place finish in fencing’s World Cup series in Paris on Sunday night.

With only one round to go before the qualification campaign ends in Cairo next month, Hong Kong are in the fourth position with 252 points, two points above regional rivals South Korea. The top four teams will all qualify for the Tokyo Games, along with the next four best continental finishers.

“It’s not easy to reach the top four in a World Cup series, especially as the Olympic qualification is now closing in,” said Wong Tsan, a member of the team foil that won a bronze medal at the 1990 Asian Games, Hong Kong’s first major international honour in the sport. “I would say their chances are now over 90 per cent. All they need to do is to keep their performance in the last qualification round and we can achieve the breakthrough of sending a fencing team to the Olympic Games.”

The quartet of Cheung Ka-long, Ryan Choi Chun-yin, Cheung Siu-lun and Lawrence Ng Lok-Wang overcame their Asian rivals South Korea 45-41 in the quarter-finals but could do little to stop world number one the United States in the next round as they were beaten 45-27 for a place in the final. They missed the podium by losing to France 45-38 in the bronze-medal play-off. Hong Kong’s best result was a second place in the St Petersburg leg of the series.

Wong, a former Commonwealth foil individual champion, said the main danger might come from Russia, now sixth in the qualification rankings and eight points behind Hong Kong. “They can still qualify for Tokyo as the best continental finisher but they are desperate to get a better ranking for a better draw in the Olympics. If both Russia and South Korea overtake us in the next round in Cairo, we are in great trouble.”