Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong fencers on the verge of making history and qualifying for Olympics
- Hong Kong beat major rivals South Korea to reach semi-finals in Paris with one qualification round remaining
- The city has never been represented by a fencing team in the Olympics and the dream is now close to reality
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.
Cheung seals first grand prix silver medal in fine weekend for Hong Kong fencers
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.”
In the épée World Series leg in Havana, Vivian Kong Man-wai lost her world number-one spot after a mediocre performance. The darling of Hong Kong fencing finished a disappointing 33rd in the Cuban capital where she was crowned the champion a year ago. Kong, now third in the standings, only recovered recently in time for the season after damaging a cruciate ligament at the world championships in July in Budapest where she captured a bronze medal.
Vivian Kong becomes first Hong Kong fencer to win World Cup gold medal
Her modest finish in Cuba should have little impact on her Olympic qualification campaign as she can still make it to the Tokyo Games as the best regional individual finisher behind China and South Korea, who are like to qualify as a team with an additional three athletes each in the individual event.
